The Gray Man
by SilvorMoon
Summary: Sora's father is researching old mountain legends, and he's letting her come along for the ride! Too bad for her those legends are real, and now she's being haunted by a mysterious Gray Man...
1. Dreams in Gray

Disclaimer: Sora, her father, Piyomon, and the other Chosen Children do not belong to me. Arthur and the various other spirit-beasties, however, are the products of my own imagination. The author does not claim that any of this actually has anything to do with real Japanese folklore. In fact, it probably doesn't. 

**

Dreams in Gray

**

**

By: SilvorMoon

**

It was three days into summer vacation, and already Sora was beginning to wonder why she had been waiting so impatiently for it to come. Admittedly, it was sort of nice not being trapped in school all day during this warm, sticky weather, but some of her vacation illusions were wearing off. Contrary to her pre-exam daydreams, she was not sunning on a beach somewhere, nor was she relaxing in the park, or even out enjoying herself with her friends. Instead, she was sitting in her room, staring at her computer, reading e-mails from her friends, who were out doing the things she wished she was doing. Taichi wrote that he was having a wonderful time at soccer camp. Mimi was vacationing with her family in the Carribean. Miyako had teamed up with Koushiro and entered a computer competition that would eat up most of their time for the next month. As for Sora, she was sitting in her apartment, wondering what she was going to do with herself. 

Her gloomy musings were interrupted by the sound of a doorbell. 

"I'll get it!" her mother called. 

Sora got up anyway. Seeing who was at the door sounded better than sitting and wishing she were somewhere else. However, she'd barely taken five steps before she heard a squeal of surprise. Sora broke into a dash. Hardly daring to believe her guess, she ran around a corner just in time to see her mother throwing her arms around the man in the doorway. 

"Dad!" Sora exclaimed. 

Professor Takenouchi grinned at her. "Hello, Sora. Surprised to see me?" 

"Am I ever!" she said. She ran to greet him, and he caught her in a bear hug. 

"I get such a welcome every time I show up," he commented. "It makes me wonder why I ever leave. Let's have a look at you, Sora... I swear, you get more grown-up every time I see you. Funny thing - I never get any older. How does that work out?" 

Sora laughed; she had missed being teased by her father. Her mother said, "Right. You're the only teenager with gray hair I've ever met." 

"It turned gray overnight when I had children," he said, running a hand over his head. Sora just gave him a tolerant smile. It was an old joke between them. His hair had been dark when he'd married, but shortly after Sora had been born, it had started to go gray - not overnight, though. Still, he liked to joke about it, and she liked to pretend it annoyed her. 

"So, what drags you away from the halls of academia?" Mrs. Takenouchi asked. 

"My family, of course," he answered. "My schedule unexpectedly rearranged itself, and I found myself with some spare time, so I just got down here as fast as I could." 

"How long are you staying?" asked Sora hopefully. Her father was a part-time professor and full-time researcher, with "part-time" meaning that he only put in a regular teacher's hours. Research took up the rest of his spare time. Sometimes it seemed that he was actually busiest when school wasn't in session, because that was when he took to roaming, looking for new avenues of discovery. He had been to America in search of Bigfoot, to Scotland to see the Loch Ness Monster, and had made trips to Africa and Egypt looking for things Sora couldn't even pronounce. She didn't even bother hoping he might spend the whole summer with them; a month would be taxing the bounds of probability. 

"Three days," he said, with a note of regret in his voice. "After that, I have plans to travel. I'm sorry." 

Sora tried to make her smile convincing. "It's all right. We understand." 

"I wish you had warned me you were coming," said Mrs. Takenouchi. "I hadn't made plans for you to have dinner with us." 

"I'll take you out," he said. "It's the least I can do. Anywhere you like - just name it." 

"I'll go get ready," said Sora. 

She scampered back to her room, struggling with a scramble of emotions. It was always like this when she saw her father. She loved him dearly, and it pained a family-oriented girl like her to know her father always had to be somewhere other than where she was. What hurt her the most was that he didn't always _have_ to be away. He didn't _need_ to be studying ancient legends and primitive customs; he could have gotten by quite nicely just by teaching. He did it because it was what he loved, and while she wasn't sure she wanted to begrudge him something he enjoyed more than anything else in the world, it bothered her that he seemed to love his work more than his family. Nevertheless... 

"Hey, Piyo, did you hear that?" she said to her partner. "Dad's home!" 

"I heard," Piyomon answered. "Do I know him well enough to go say hello? Do you think he still remembers me?" 

Sora managed to laugh at her partner's wide-eyed questions. 

"He couldn't possibly have forgotten you," she said. "He took a whole week off of work to come out here and talk to you, remember? I know I said he's scatterbrained, but he's not _that_ forgetful!" 

"Good," said Piyomon. "I like him!" 

"So do I," said Sora. "And, hey! He said he's taking us to dinner for anything we want." 

The young Digimon's eyes lit up. "Yeah, dinner! I knew there was a reason I liked your dad." 

Sora laughed, her confusion momentarily forgotten. There was no use in worrying. As long as her father was here, she would enjoy his company as much as she could. She ran a brush through her hair and led her partner off to join the rest of the family. 

~*~

By the time they returned home, Sora was in a better state of mind, having resigned herself to a short visit instead of a more preferable arrangement. Dinner had been excellent, and her father had enlivened it by telling them all stories about silly things his students got up to. He scored points in Sora's book by including Piyomon in his discussions, asking her intelligent questions about her impressions of living in the human world. Even now, too many people tended to treat the Digimon like little more than interesting animals. 

When they returned to the apartment, it was late, too late to think of doing anything more than unwinding. They sat around the coffee table, sipping hot tea and enjoying the peace and quiet, talking or not talking as it suited them. Sora, watching her parents chatting with each other, gave a wistful sigh. 

*_I wish it could always be like this,_* she thought. *_I wish we could be a family, a real family..._* 

Her mother finished with her drink. Collecting everyone's empty cups, she went to deposit them in the sink. While she was busy rinsing them, Sora's father leaned towards her. 

"You know, Sora," he said, "I haven't told your mother yet, but I had an ulterior motive in showing up right now. There's something I wanted to talk to you about." 

"There is?" she asked. Her brain went into high gear as she tried to guess what he was talking about. Half of her guessed he simply had thought of some new question or experiment pertaining to the Digital World that he wanted her help on. The other half of her dreaded something unpleasant, like an impending divorce. 

"How would you like to spend the summer with me?" 

She could feel herself light up. "Would I ever! ...But I thought you were going to be traveling - doing research." 

"Oh, I'll be doing that," he said. "It's just that I won't be leaving the country this year, or traveling with a group. I can bring you along with me, if you want." 

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed. "Where are we going?" 

"To a small town in the mountains. Lately they've been claiming to have sightings of demons, woods-spirits... all kinds of strange things. I'm hoping I'll be able to figure out what they're seeing, if anything. Even if nothing turns up, they've got some shrines and local legends that I'd like to give some attention. I know it's not as exciting as fishing for the Loch Ness Monster, but..." 

"The only thing you caught when you went fishing for the Monster was a head cold," said Sora. "Legends and woods-spirits suit me just fine." She considered. "I'd rather not see a demon, though, if I can help it." 

Her father smiled a bit. "If I see one, I'll warn him to keep well away from you. All right, then. Just give me a chance to talk your mother around, and you can start packing." 

"Start packing for what?" asked Mrs. Takenouchi, returning from the kitchen. 

"Dad says I can go with him to the mountains this summer," said Sora quickly. "I can, can't I? Please say yes." 

Her mother laughed. "Why wouldn't I say yes? I think it's a wonderful idea." 

"I thought you might object to leaving her in my doubtful care," said the professor. "That, and I wasn't sure you didn't need her to help run the shop." 

"I can look after things well enough for a little while," Mrs. Takenouchi replied. "If worst comes to worst, I can always hire one of her friends for a bit. It's more important that you two spend some time together. A girl ought to have a chance to get to know her father." 

"And I don't spend nearly as much time with either of you as I should, I know," answered the professor, bowing his head. "Well, I'll do what I can. If I could just borrow the phone, I'll make some travel arrangements..." 

"You can't _borrow_ it," his wife informed him. "It's your phone." 

He laughed. "Yes, I've definitely been away too long. Well, then, let me use _my_ phone." 

As he wandered off in search of the phone, Sora got up to hug her mother. 

"Thanks, Mom! You're the best," she said. 

"Thank your father," she said. "If he didn't come up with something like this soon, he would have been in trouble." 

"It's too bad you can't come too," said Sora. 

"Another time, perhaps. I admit, I'm not enthused about being out in the wilderness. I'm a city girl at heart... You'll have fun, though." 

Sora smiled. "I know I will." 

With Piyomon in tow, she hurried back to her room. It didn't matter to her that she would have all day tomorrow to get ready; she wanted to start packing _now_. Then there were people she needed to call, to tell them she was going away for a while. She nearly sang with happiness. The whole summer with her father! That was better than she had hoped for. For that, she would be willing to go through almost anything. 

~*~

Time seemed to pass in an eyeblink. Looking back, she could hardly remember the days between her father's suggestion and the morning they packed their things into the back of a rental car and set out for what would be their summer home. She was sure she had done some last- minute packing in there somewhere, and had called every friend she could get hold of to tell them about this amazing stroke of luck, but the details were lost in a wash of excitement. All she knew for certain was that somehow, she had ended up sitting in the passenger seat of a rented blue four-door, leaning out the window as she accepted last-minute goodbyes from her mother. Then the car began pulling away, and she realized she was finally on her journey. 

"Sit back and get comfortable," her father told her and Piymon, who was perched in Sora's lap. "It's going to be a long ride, I'm afraid." 

"That's all right, I don't mind," answered Sora. "Can we play the radio?" 

"Sure. That's what I always do." 

Sora turned a knob and began skimming through stations until she found a song she liked. She began to sing along in her gentle voice. "_Ne wasurenai de ne_ blue bird..." 

She was surprised to hear her father join in, adding a deeper element to the wistful song. She looked at him, and he grinned. 

"Didn't know your old man could sing, is that it?" he asked. 

"I just didn't think this was your kind of music," she said. 

He laughed. "I have to have noise going on when I'm riding. Sooner or later, I get to know _all_ the songs, whether I like them or not. I like this one, though. In a way, it reminds me of you." 

"This is an _old_ song," she said. 

"I didn't say I learned them fast," he replied. 

She smiled and settled back into her chair. Something told her this was going to be an enjoyable ride. 

"So, tell me about where we're going," she said. 

"Well... it's a tiny little village, up in the mountains, just like I said. You probably wouldn't have heard of it even if I told you the name of it. It's about as old as the hills themselves, and the people there still cling to a lot of the old ways. Some of the oldest families don't even bother with electricity or running water, but thankfully, we're going to live in slightly better conditions. You might have to make do without an Internet connection for a while, but other than that..." 

"That's okay," she said. "My friends know how to get hold of me if something bad comes up." 

"Knowing what I know about your friends, I have no doubt that they'd move heaven and earth if they thought you needed their help," her father replied. "Anyway, the main part of the village isn't so bad. They have a few shops, anyway, and a library, and I think a restaurant or two. Hopefully you won't get too bored." 

"It's okay. I brought some things to read, and my sketchbook," Sora replied. "And Daisuke loaned me one of those portable video game things. He heard I was going to be living in the middle of nowhere for a while and thought I might need it. He's the kind who gets bored easily, you know." 

Her father chuckled. "Yes, I think I remember hearing something along those lines." 

The journey continued. After a while, Piyomon got bored of the inactivity and fell asleep, but Sora stayed awake and watched as the miles rolled by. The city they drove through gradually seemed to dwindle, and then vanish altogether, replaced by miles of trees and hilly terrain, interspersed with the occasional village. They passed the time by singing with the radio, or talking, or just watching the scenery. From time to time, they would stop at places along the way, twice for meals, and another stop in between to stretch their legs. Once the professor stopped at a shopping center to let Sora pick out a few movies from a video store so she would have something extra to entertain herself with. While it was nice to take a rest break once in a while, Sora was always eager to push on again, and they never dawdled for very long. 

Even so, it was getting late when they finally arrived at their destination. By the light of the setting sun, Sora saw that they were leaving the main road - what little there was of it - and pulling onto a dirt track leading up a tall hill. When they reached the top, Sora was sitting up and staring. 

The house was a majestic old relic of days gone by, an old-fashioned structure with a sagging porch and peeling paint. The roof appeared to be green, though it was hard to tell in the fading light, and the walls had been white before time and the elements had weathered them to pale gray. It had two storeys and an attic, enough space to encompass Sora's apartment twice over with room to spare. Tall trees pressed against its back, with saplings and weeds crowding what had once been a lawn. 

"It's so much _bigger_ than I expected," she said, duly impressed. 

"Is that good or bad?" her father asked. 

"It's beautiful," said Sora. Piyomon nodded in awed agreement. "It's like something out of a fairy tale." 

Professor Takenouchi grinned. "That was the look I was going for." 

He scooped some of their luggage out of the back seat and began hauling it up to the house, and Sora copied his example. She was pleased to see that the house was already comfortably furnished - a bit old and frayed, but still serviceable and not entirely unattractive. Her father dumped all the baggage in the front hall. 

"You can look around and see if there are any rooms that suit you," he said. "Usually this place is used as a summer home by one of my colleagues, but they're vacationing in America and he was kind enough to let me keep it warm for him. It should be comfortable enough. He said he'd call and hire someone from the village to straighten it up for us, and it looks like they've done a good job." 

Sora nodded and began her exploration. A staircase led her to the second storey of the house, where she guessed the bedrooms must be. She stepped out into a hallway and began peering into doors. The first one she tried led to a bathroom; the next, a linen closet. The door after that led to what she supposed was the master bedroom, with a large double bed and formidable furniture. It was much too grand for her taste, and she would have felt wrong to try to claim the best room for herself. She tried the next door. It had been a nursery once, she guessed by the designs on the walls. She probably could have tolerated living there, but she wanted to see if there was anything better available. 

The last door on the hallway opened to a corner bedroom. There were windows on two sides, one giving her a view of the forest, while the other looked back down into the valley. It would show her a lovely view of the sunrise in the morning. The walls were blue, stenciled with a design of clouds and flying birds. She noted a comfortable-looking bed, a vanity table with a mirror, and a writing desk with matching chair. She found herself nodding approval. 

"This is nice," said Piyomon. "They could have made it just for you, Sora!" 

"It's perfect," Sora agreed. "Let's go tell Dad I've found my room." 

Returning to the hallway, she found her father hauling the last of the luggage up the stairs and piling it in the middle of the hall. 

"See a room you like?" he asked. 

"Yeah, this one will be just fine," she said, gesturing at the room she had just exited. Eying the heavy box her father was wrestling with, she asked, "Do you need a hand with that?" 

"No, I've - oof - got it, I think... ack!" 

The box slipped from his grasp. It landed on its side and popped open, spilling a pile of battered-looking leather-bound books. Sora stifled the urge to giggle. 

"Well, I was going to put it on the floor anyway," said her father. "Well. So. As long as you're here, let's talk about how we're going to work this little vacation. You understand, I hope, that I'm not going to be around all the time. I might spend most of the day out working. I'll tell you where I'm going to be in advance, so you'll know. In the meantime, you'll be expected to take care of yourself." 

"I can do that," she said. 

"I know you can," he agreed. "Therefore, I'm not going to make a long list of rules. I trust you not to do anything that would get either of us into trouble. However, I am still a protective and slightly superstitious father, and I want to lay down a couple of restrictions, for the sake of your safety and my sanity." 

"What has superstition got to do with anything?" Sora wanted to know. 

Her father smiled sheepishly. "Well, maybe nothing... but the locals are convinced that _something_ bad is going on around here, and I'd just feel better if I knew you were playing it safe." 

She shrugged in confused acquiescence. He continued. 

"First... I don't mind you biking down to the village and back while I'm out. Just leave me a note when you're out, in case I come home and don't see you. Stay on the main road. Don't follow anyone into their home, even if they invite you. Don't go telling anyone your name or where you're staying... I think those are pretty basic. Also, you noticed the forest in back?" 

She nodded. 

"Well, if you go into that forest, you will find approximately a million and eight trees that all look the same. It's a bad place to get lost. Since your mother would be a little upset with me if I were to lose you, I'll ask you to stay out of there. If you feel like you have to explore, stay within sighting distance of the house, and do _not_ go in at night for any reason. Understood?" 

"Yes, Dad," she answered. "Don't worry. I'd just as soon not get lost in the woods. I've done it before. It wasn't a lot of fun." 

He smiled. "Good. Other than that, you have the run of the house. And now... I don't know about you, but I've had a long day. I'm ready to turn in. Good night, Sora. Good night, Piyomon." 

"Good night!" the pair chorused. 

Sora dragged her suitcase into her new room. After digging through it to find her nightgown, she found she had only the energy that it took to slip into the gown, crawl into bed, and turn out the bedside lamp. She closed her eyes, listening to the night sounds in the forest. She smiled. It felt so peaceful here, and she had all summer to enjoy it. The thought made her smile. 

"Good night, Piyo," she said to the warm bundle of feathers at her side. 

Piyomon didn't answer: she had already dropped off to sleep. Sora didn't notice that she hadn't gotten a reply, because she had fallen asleep herself. 

~*~

That night, Sora dreamed. In her mind, she walked through the forest beyond the house, with the massive trees looming all around her. A heavy fog had fallen, so thick that she could see only a few yards in any direction, obscuring the tops of the trees. She felt as though she walked in a gray globe. All she could see was the brown leaf cover at her feet, the gray fog, and the gray trunks of trees. The fog softened the earth, making her footsteps silent. Nothing in the forest moved. 

Or did it? Vaguely, she thought she saw the fog moving strangely somewhere up ahead. She moved toward it, hoping to see something familiar. As she drew closer, she was able to make out a darker shape against the fog, and she realized it was human. 

The fog parted as suddenly as if someone had drawn it back like a curtain, leaving a broad swath of ground that was clear. In the middle of that circle stood a man, if the term could be used loosely. He was shaped like a human, tall and strong, with a regal bearing. He was dressed in pale gray, a gray that gleamed like silver and seemed to shift and swirl like the fog. His clothing was unlike any she'd seen outside of a movie or fairy tale. It amazed her that she could see them so clearly in a dream, where things were supposed to be vague and uncertain. Nevertheless, she could see everything about him with preternatural clarity. He wore knee-high boots of gray suede with the turn-town tops decorated in a scalloped design, trimmed in silver, with silver buckles. Tucked into those were loose breeches. He wore a shirt of gray-white, with full, loose sleeves, and darker gray cuffs. Over that was a darker gray tunic with a silver-trimmed scalloped edge that matched his boots. His hair was gray, as were his eyes, both shining like polished steel. His face was uncertain; she couldn't seem to look at any part of it but those glowing eyes. He wanted to tell her something, but just as he was about to speak... 

She woke up. For a moment, she was as disoriented as she would have been if she really _had_ been in a foggy forest, only to turn around and find herself in an unfamiliar room. She looked around, attempting to convince herself that she really had been dreaming. 

"I wonder why I dreamed that?" she asked herself. She had always heard that dreams had some kind of meaning, even if it was only her own brain trying to shuffle through the stray thoughts in her head. Perhaps it had only been a reaction to her new surroundings, and her father's warnings about the deep forest where every tree looked the same. Even so, she didn't think she'd ever dreamed so vividly. She swore she still had the metallic taste of fog on her tongue... 

Then she rolled over and looked out the window, and she laughed at herself. The ground outside was coated with white mist, twining between the trees like a cat begging for treats. Her laughter awakened Piyomon, who sat up and blinked sleepily. 

"What's so funny?" she asked. 

"Nothing. I just dreamed us up some weather, that's all," Sora replied. 

She dressed and groomed herself quickly, and then trotted downstairs to see if anyone else was awake. Her father was at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of oatmeal and flipping through a stack of manuscripts. 

"You're going to be angry if you get that oatmeal on your papers," she told him. 

He jumped, nearly dumping a spoonful of cereal in his lap. "Sora! You sneaked up on me." 

"If I'd made any more noise coming down the stairs, Mom could have heard me back in Tokyo," she told him, smiling. "Is there any more breakfast where that came from?" 

"In a box in the cabinet next to the phone," he told her. "It's instant. Just put it in a bowl with some water and throw it in the microwave." 

Sora laughed. "I should have known you'd be trying to live on microwaveables. I'll have to go into down and find some _real_ food later... after this fog clears up, anyway. Where did it all come from?" 

"It's common around here," he said. "We'll probably have some most mornings, but it clears up quickly enough once the sun rises." 

"Good," she said. 

"What? Don't you like it? I always thought it was sort of pretty," her father said. "Sort of mysterious, you know." 

"I'm not wild about mysteries. I like things out where I can see them," Sora replied, as she went off in search of the oatmeal packets. "I agree it's pretty, though. I just meant, I'd like it to clear up so I can go to the village." 

"I'll leave you some shopping money," her father promised, "provided you agree not to spend all of it on groceries, and whatever else you decide you need. I brought you out here to enjoy yourself a little, you know." 

"All right," she said. "I'll buy a candy bar while I'm down there." 

Her father laughed. "Buy me one, too." 

When her food, such as it was, had finished warming, she carried it back to the table, and then went to fix a meal for her partner. Piyomon claimed not to like oatmeal - it tended to stick to her beak - so Sora sliced fresh fruit and put it in a dish for her. The two of them seated themselves at the table. Professor Takenouchi was still poring over his papers. 

"So, what are _you_ going to do today?" Sora asked him. 

"Hm," he said, drawing his mind from his papers. "There's a shrine just over the mountain. I'm going to talk to the people who run it. Normally, they don't care for us scientists, but I've managed to persuade them to talk to me a bit. It's a very rare chance - I'm lucky to have it." 

"Ah," she said. "When will you be back?" 

"Well before nightfall," he promised. "I'll try to get back in time for dinner. Then we'll have some time to spend together, don't worry." 

She nodded agreeably; it was, after all, more than what she usually got. 

"I'll take care of the dishes," she said. "You go get your things together, or you'll be late to talk to your monks, or priests, or whoever they are." 

He grinned. "I won't be late. They told me time is just a figment of our imaginations, anyway. And if you waste your vacation doing chores, I'll - I'll shut you in the attic with the soot sprites!" 

She laughed. "This isn't _Tonari no Totoro,_ Dad." 

"Why not? It might be," he said. "If you see any Totoros, tell them to hang around until I get back. And now I'm on my way. Bye, Sora. If you run into any trouble, anything at all, I'll have my cell phone with me, so you can call if you need me. Have a good day." 

"You, too, Dad." 

She watched him head out the front door, and a moment later, she heard the mutter of the car starting and rolling down the rocky driveway, and she lifted a corner of the kitchen curtain just in time to see him roll out of sight. For a moment, she felt a twinge of loneliness - partly the result of finding herself alone in a big, unfamiliar house, mixed with the older feeling of never having her father around. She brushed the thought away - her father would be back soon enough - and busied herself with washing the breakfast dishes. Even though she had promised her father she wouldn't spend the whole time doing chores, she needed something physical to do until she'd brought that homesick feeling to bay. 

A few minutes later, the dishes were sparkling clean and had been returned to their cupboards and cabinets. Sora tossed the dishrag over the side of the sink and went to search for other forms of amusement. She decided to begin by exploring her temporary new home a bit more thoroughly. She had seen almost nothing of it the night before, and now she and her partner set about searching it from top to bottom. It had obviously been here a long time, judging by its worn floorboards and creaking boards, but it had been well cared for. There was evidence of fresh paint in some of the rooms, and the furniture was a jumble of threadbare but still serviceable items mixed with newer, more stylish pieces. There was evidence that children had been here recently: Piyomon found a child's rag doll fallen behind a chair. Searching the attic, they found (along with a great deal of dust) some boxes of sporting equipment, a crate of old books, and some odds and ends she didn't recognize but assumed that they belonged to her father's friend. She knew her own father had a habit of collecting peculiar artifacts; it shouldn't have been any surprise that his friends did the same. Climbing down the stairs and shaking the cobwebs from her hair, she noticed a porch in the back of the house, complete with a wind chime hanging within sight of the window. There was a breeze blowing briskly, and its sound was audible even inside. It was a pleasant touch, and made her smile. 

"I think we'll do all right here," she said. "It could use some fixing up, but..." 

"It could use something to eat," said Piyomon, who was mournfully inspecting the contents of the cabinets. The professor seemed to have brought along only what he would have considered the bare essentials, and there was only enough there to last a day or two, at best. 

"We'll go shopping," Sora decided. "I'd like to go and explore the village, anyway, wouldn't you?" 

"Yeah!" said Piyomon, ever cheerful. 

So they went. Sora had brought her bicycle, strapped to the roof of the rental car, and now she put it to good use. The trail down from the house was largely mud, and rutted by rainfall and lack of upkeep, but she was still able to make good time as she rolled down the hill. It was nice here, watching the trees race by as she passed them, and the golden spears of sunlight that slanted through their branches gave the world a fairy-tale feel. Despite the fact that it was summer, the mountain air was cool, and she was glad she'd opted to wear a light jacket. She found herself tempted to just bike up and down the trail for a while. 

At length, they came to the town, and Sora paused a moment on the side of the road to evaluate it. She could see most of it from here - a strip of shops, tiny restaurants, and other buildings lined up along the side of the road, with a few small houses near the edges, and a few winding trails that led to other half-seen buildings among the trees. There were few automobiles, just people milling around doing their grocery shopping, picking up mail, and visiting their neighbors. The trail she was on now intercepted the main street at a point she couldn't see, concealed among the buildings. 

"I think we could explore this whole place in a day, and have time left over for lunch," Sora said. "This wouldn't even make a whole district, back home." 

"Is that good or bad?" asked Piyomon. 

Sora shrugged. "It's different, anyway. Right now, I think it will do just fine as long as we can find the local grocery store. Come on! Race you down the hill!" 

She kicked her bike into motion again and started coasting down the hill, while Piyomon gave a chirp and fluttered after her as fast as her wings could carry her, calling for Sora to wait for her. By the time they had reached the edges of town, Sora was ahead by a few yards and Piyomon was panting for air. 

"That's not fair," she complained. "I had to fly, and you didn't have to do anything." 

"Sorry," said Sora, giggling a bit. "Here, you can ride on the handlebars while you catch your breath." 

"Good! I like to ride," said Piyomon cheerfully. She settled herself into place, and Sora waited patiently while she got herself comfortable. 

It was then that it occurred to Sora that some of the people on their way in and out of town were staring at them, especially at Piyomon. Some were openly gawking at the sight of a large, pink, talking bird. Sora sighed. Over the last few months, she'd gotten more used to her status as local celebrity than she usually realized or thought about, but things like this brought the fact home. Back in Tokyo, people had largely taken to the idea of Digimon. Sora and her friends were greeted familiarly on the streets by strangers, and the former Dark Spore children were the envy of their classmates. Everything from clothing to candy had appeared in Digimon motifs, and there were scattered reports that new people were already encountering Digimon and forming partnerships. It was easy to forget that something that was so popular and famous back home might be completely unheard of in a place where few people even watched television. Even if they'd heard of Digimon, how could they be expected to believe in them? 

"Don't be scared," said Sora in her most soothing tones. "She's just a Digimon. She's not dangerous, really." 

"That bird was talking," said one of the villagers. "It was really talking to you, wasn't it?" 

"Piyomon's not an it, she's a she," said Sora. "And yes, she can talk. She can do just about anything a human can, really. She just _looks_ like a bird, that's all." 

"It's uncanny, that's what it is," said a woman, giving Piyomon a superstitious - and suspicious - glare. "Talking animals..." 

"She's not an animal," Sora began, and then gave up. She decided to change her tactics a bit. "Look, I'm from Tokyo. Things like this are all the rage in the city. Lots of people have them." 

"Oh," said the man who had first spoken. "A city thing." 

"The things they won't get up to in the city," said an old woman, shaking her head. 

The gathering slowly dispersed, with only a few backwards glances at Piyomon, who regarded them with her wide-eyed, innocent gaze. 

"What was wrong with them?" she asked. 

"They just aren't used to Digimon, I guess," Sora replied. "Probably not much has changed in this place for years. We'll have to watch our steps. I don't know much about small towns. I'd hate to do something stupid and get in trouble. Don't worry; they'll get used to you after a while." 

"I don't know," said Piyomon, ruffling her feathers uneasily. "This isn't a Digimon sort of place." 

"What do you mean by that?" asked Sora curiously. 

"I'm not sure," said Piyomon, "but I can feel it. It's in the air, and the trees, and the ground. Can't you feel it, too?" 

Sora hesitated, trying to pin down what Piyomon was talking about. She gazed around her, beyond the town and into the sky, the trees, the mountains. She felt the cool breeze against her skin, and the coolness that touched her was that of deep shadows and cold stone and still water. There were still places not that far from here where it was possible humans had never set foot, where the dance of nature had been going through its same slow steps for eons without ever being disturbed. For a moment even the very air felt heavy with a sense of oldness. 

"You're right," said Sora, trying to shake off a sense of uneasiness. "I think it will be a long time before any Digimon settle down here. You're just too... new." 

*_Maybe that's why Digimon started showing up in places like Tokyo and New York first,_* she mused, as she began pedaling slowly into town. *_Not just because of all the computers and things there, but because things are always moving and changing there. Or maybe it's just that here, everything is still so close to nature, they're just not ready for something as technological as computerized life forms..._* 

She had an urge to finish her shopping quickly and head back home. After all, she had all summer to explore this place; why rush it? She found a boy of close to her own age who was listening to a portable CD player and chose him to ask where she might find the local market. He proved friendly enough, and more curious than intimidated when it came to Piyomon, and he was able to give her directions to a small store where she could buy produce and canned goods. He proved friendly enough that she lingered to chat with him a while, and when she left, it was with an invitation to come and play soccer with him and some of his friends sometime. 

Finding someone friendly here put her in a better mood, and she hummed to herself as she filled a shopping bag with edibles. There were still people in this community who grew their own vegetables, and she found a lovely selection of summer squashes and ripe, red tomatoes. She also found a homemade chocolate cake for sale that she couldn't pass up. She filled the rest of her bag with other odds and ends, and probably would have taken more if she'd had better transportation available. As it was, she knew she could only buy what she was willing to carry back up the mountain on her bicycle, and made her choices accordingly. When the bag was full, she paid for all of it, and was pleased to find that it came to somewhat less than it would have been in a supermarket back home. Feeling pleased with herself, she piled everything into a basket on the back of her bike (which she had thoughtfully bought and attached for purposes of this vacation) and prepared to head home again. 

That was where she ran into trouble. It had been easy enough to find her way into town - after all, there was only one road to follow - but finding her way out was somewhat trickier. She didn't know her way around, and there were several small dirt tracks leading back out of the village in the same general direction the house was. She could not remember which was the one she had followed to get here. 

"Well, now what do we do?" she asked Piyomon. 

"Try one?" the bird asked. "If it goes the wrong way, we can always back up and try again." 

"That's true," Sora agreed. "We have lots of time. It's not even lunchtime yet, so we've got all day to poke around if we need it. I don't think we can get _that_ lost in a tiny little place like this." 

With that thought fixed firmly in mind, she picked a road that looked promising and started out. After all, she had once managed to blunder into a whole other dimension and she'd found her way out again eventually; she ought to be able to find her way out of a mountain village. 

Once she was on the road, she felt almost certain that she was on the right track. It looked much the way she remembered coming in had been like, with the tall, stately trees, jewel-green moss, and shafts of golden sunlight. A few birds flittered overhead, and Piyomon listened to them and occasionally chirped back politely. She had told Sora once that for the most part, she could get the gist of what birds were saying to each other, but they had such limited interests that she seldom found it worth her while to pay attention to them. As for Sora, she simply concentrated on keeping her eyes on the road, making sure there were no other turnoffs where she could get confused if she had to backtrack. 

After about fifteen minutes, backtracking began to look like a good idea. The trees were growing darker and denser, blotting out most of the sunlight even though it was mid-afternoon. They seemed much older than the ones she'd been passing previously. Most of these were too broad for her to have encircled with her arms, and some were twice that span or more. Their limbs were twisted and gnarled like arthritic fingers, bent into contortions that looked somehow unpleasant, even menacing. The air was almost cold here, and the only sounds to be heard were the croaks of crows and the soft sighing of the wind. 

"I think we're in the wrong place," said Sora, scanning the area. The ground was nearly flat here, and she was sure the trip to the village had been entirely sloped. She couldn't see beyond the trees enough to see her house or even the village. "We'd better turn back." 

Piyomon nodded. "These crows don't like us, I think. They're telling us to go away." 

Sora looked up at the black birds, who looked back down at her and cawed raspily. 

"Same to you," she told them, and wheeled her bike around and began the trip back down to the village. She pedaled rather faster than she would have ordinarily, and told herself she just didn't want to waste any more time. 

She hadn't gone far when she came to a fork in the road. She stopped and stared. She had been absolutely sure that there had been no fork when she had last come this way, but now it was plainly divided. Staring hard, she thought she could see the cause of the problem, where bushes and shrubs had grown up between the two paths so that one was partly obscured to a viewer who was coming from the opposite direction and didn't know what they were looking for. She got off her bike and tried walking experimentally down each road. They both looked the same. 

"Well, now what do we do?" she said, trying to keep worry out of her voice. She wasn't panicked yet, but she _was_ concerned. Logic told her that she hadn't been traveling for more than a few minutes, so she ought to be able to figure out if she was on the wrong path if she traveled a short way and didn't come back to the village. Still, the idea that there might be more hidden paths to confuse her was not a reassuring one. She didn't want to spend all day wandering around on a mountain! 

"Maybe I could fly up and see where we are?" Piyomon suggested. 

Sora nodded. "Good idea. You ought to be able to see the village no matter where we are." 

Piyomon chirped agreement and took off with a flurry of wings. A few minutes later, she flapped back down again. 

"It's all trees!" she said. 

"What?" asked Sora. 

"It's all trees! No matter where I look, I can't see the house or the village or anything!" 

"That's weird," said Sora. "I know we haven't come _that_ far..." 

"Is something wrong, dear?" 

Sora looked up, startled. Standing partway down one of the paths was an old woman. She had long hair that was nearly white with age and a smiling, wrinkled face. She was bent with age but still had an air of energy about her. When she saw that Sora had noticed her, she began walking slowly forward with the aid of a gnarled stick. 

"Sorry if I startled you, dear," she said. "I couldn't help but notice that you looked a little lost. Did you get on the wrong path? It's not hard to do in these mountains." 

"Yes, I did," said Sora. 

"I thought so. You're new around here, aren't you? Of course you are," said the old woman, nodding knowledgeably. "I know everyone in the village by now. I should, as long as I've lived on this mountain. Anyway, I'd remember that red hair. Where do you come from?" 

"I'm from the city," said Sora. "I was here on vacation, and I got lost trying to get home. Please, can you tell me how to get back to the village?" 

"Oh, I could," she said, "but a girl shouldn't be walking alone on these twisty paths. It's too easy to get lost. Things start looking like paths when they aren't, and the next thing you know, you're too far off-track to ever find your way back. There are wild animals out here, too. You should have company with you. I'd walk you back to town myself, but my old bones aren't up to making such a trip anymore. Is there someone in the village you could call? If nothing else, the grocer's boy knows the way up to my home - he delivers my groceries once a week. You could use my telephone, if you like." 

"Thank you. That would be a big help," said Sora gratefully. She was thankful she had her father's cell phone written down. She could call him and let him know what had happened, and he could come get her, or send someone. In the meantime, this old woman seemed perfectly friendly and willing to look after her. If she was anything like many of the elderly people Sora knew, she was probably eager for any kind of company in this secluded place, and happy to have someone to talk to. 

"No trouble at all, dear," said the old woman. "Just follow me." 

They walked up the hill, Sora wheeling her bike, the old woman making surprisingly good time as she hobbled along on her cane. As they rounded a bend in the path, Sora could see a ramshackle hut standing in a small clearing, with a few chickens scratching around in the dirt outside. Five large black dogs sprawled in the yard or on the porch, raising their heads when they heard footsteps, then lowering them as they recognized their owner. The house itself seemed to have been made of the same trees as those that stood around them, perhaps felled on that very spot. Sora never could have seen it from the path, not with the way it blended into the scenery. 

"It isn't much, but it's home," said the old woman. "Don't mind the dogs - they won't bite if you don't pester them. Just come right inside." 

Sora nodded, carefully skirting the sleeping animals, and began climbing the short flight of creaky wooden steps leading up to the porch. However, no sooner had she set her foot on the first step, when... 

_...Stay on the main road. Don't follow anyone into their home, even if they invite you..._

The memory of her father's words was so vivid that it was as if they'd been spoken into her ear. She actually jumped, and looked around as if expecting to find her father standing somewhere nearby. 

"What is it?" asked the old woman. "You look as if something has startled you." 

"It's nothing," said Sora. "I just... thought I heard something, but I think I was just imagining things." 

"That can happen, when we're in the deep woods," said the old woman, nodding her understanding. "Especially if you're not used to forest noises. I'll wager a city girl like you hasn't spent much time in the woods, have you? Well, you'll feel better once you have four walls around you." 

Sora nodded, trying not to feel guilty or foolish, but thinking of her father's warning made her uncomfortable. She told herself that she hadn't _meant_ to wander off the path; she had just gotten lost by accident, and her father wouldn't scold her for doing whatever it took to get un-lost. As for going into the house, well... 

*_I need help right now. This old woman isn't going to do me any harm... but..._* 

She was brought out of her thoughts by the feeling of something tugging on her jeans. She looked down to see Piyomon gazing up at her worriedly. Sora took a quick glance at the old woman; she had thus far been ignoring Piyomon, perhaps mistaking her for just a large toy, as others sometimes did. Sora wasn't ready to let on to a stranger that Piyomon was anything more, no matter how nice this woman seemed. Luckily, the woman was busy undoing the latch on her door and wasn't looking at Sora or her partner. 

"What is it?" Sora asked. "Can't it wait?" 

"Sora," said Piyomon, "where are the phone lines?" 

Sora blinked. Trust a bird to notice telephone wires! Now that she looked up, she could see no sign of phone lines, power lines, or anything else that would connect this place with the rest of the world. 

"Where _are_ the phone lines?" she repeated aloud. 

"Hm?" said the old woman. 

"How am I going to use a phone if you don't have any phone lines?" asked Sora. "I don't even see any electric lines." 

"Don't you worry about that, dear. I promise everything will work just fine," said the woman, but Sora thought she didn't sound as confident as she had before. 

"Thank you anyway," said Sora, "but I think I want to try to find my own way home." 

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," said the woman. "You might never make it back." 

"I'll take my chances," said Sora. "Come on, Piyo." 

She swiftly mounted her bike and began pedaling away from the house as fast as she could go. It would have made for a dramatic gesture of defiance if she had been in better circumstances. As it was, she'd forgotten about the dogs. As soon as she started moving, their heads went up, and they began to growl. The next thing she knew, she was pedaling for her life as a pack of fierce black dogs ran beside her, baying and snapping at her. Was it her imagination, or did she hear the old woman shouting at them, urging them on? Or was she trying to call them off? Either way, the dogs remained intent on their target, and no matter how fast she pedaled, she couldn't seem to put any distance between them. 

"Leave her alone!" Piyomon shouted. "I'm warning you! _Magical Fire!_" 

She flapped her wings and stirred up a spiral of green fire, launching it at the dogs. It struck them, burst into a flare of smoke and flame... 

...and the dogs continued, completely undaunted. 

"Impossible!" Sora exclaimed. 

That was all the reaction she had time for. One of the dogs, maddened by the attack, made a lunge at her and managed to sink his teeth into her calf. She shrieked, and the bike went out of control as the dog pulled her down. Instantly, the other dogs were on her, and she screamed and tried to cover her face with her hands. They snarled as they jockeyed for a position over her, snapping and drooling. She thought she heard Piyomon fire off another attack, but it didn't seem to bother the dogs any more than a strong breeze would have. One of them gripped her arm in his teeth and began pulling at it with incredible strength, and she felt herself being dragged up the path the way they had come... 

*_They're going to bring me home and eat me!_* she thought wildly. 

Fear gave her new strength. She managed to rip herself free, leaving most of one sleeve and a bit of her own blood behind, and she grabbed her bike in both hands, swinging it around clumsily as her injured arm burned with pain. Surprise as much as anything else drove the dogs back a few paces, and Sora was able to clumsily remount her bike and start moving again. The dogs tried to follow her, but the trail had started to slope again, and she was rapidly picking up speed, rolling recklessly over the rutted and bumpy trail. With gravity on her side, she was able to do what she couldn't on flat land and finally outdistance the dogs. At last, they gave up the chase and simply stood and barked at her, roaring as if they wanted her to know what they _would_ do to her if they ever caught her again. 

When they were far enough away that they could no longer hear even an echo of a barking dog, Sora stopped her bike and collapsed beneath a tree to catch her breath and assess her injuries. She was bleeding rather badly from her bitten arm, but it didn't look as bad as she had imagined - for a wild moment she'd been sure most of it had been torn off. Her leg was likewise showing signs of being punctured by sharp canine teeth, but her jeans had taken most of the damage and there were only small points of blood to show where she'd been bitten. The whole of it hurt like crazy, but it could have been a lot worse. 

"That was scary," she said shakily. 

"It really was," Piyomon agreed. "I thought they were going to _eat_ you!" 

"I thought they were, too," said Sora. "For a minute I thought I'd never get away." 

Piyomon hung her head. "I tried to fight them off, but it didn't work. My attack didn't do anything." 

"I know," said Sora, frowning. "That's weird. Even a little Digimon ought to be able to fight off a dog - even a big mean one. Was there something strange about the dogs, or was it something about you?" 

"I don't know," said Piyomon. She looked around. The forest here looked more like she thought it was supposed to; there was no more sign of the dark, twisted woods. "But I think there's something around here that isn't good for Digimon." 

"I hope you don't get sick," said Sora, worry for herself instantly replaced by worry for her partner. 

"I don't think it's like that," Piyomon replied, after a moment of consideration. "But I think we should go home anyway." 

Sora nodded. Having collected herself, she got up again and began limping down the path, opting to walk and use the bike as a crutch rather than try to ride any further. Within a few minutes, they were back within sighting distance of the town. They walked through a narrow passage between a bakery and someone's house and found themselves back on the main street. 

"Hey, kid," said a man passing by. "What happened to you?" 

"I - I got on the wrong side of some dogs," she said. She didn't feel like trying to recount the whole story. Fortunately, the man nodded in understanding. 

"There are some bad ones around here," he said. "You should know better than to mess with people's guard dogs." 

"I know better now," she said. "Right now, I just want to go home and get cleaned up." 

"Do you want a lift? I have a truck. We can throw your bike in the back," the man offered. 

"No, thank you," said Sora. "I'll call my dad and let him pick me up. Do you know where there's a public phone?" 

The man gave her a point in the direction of a small restaurant and told her they would let her use theirs. She thanked him gratefully and limped up the street. Now that the shock was wearing off, she was starting to feel sore. 

The people at the restaurant were gratifyingly sympathetic. The proprietor, a motherly dumpling of a woman, took one look at the state of Sora's arm and went into a flurry of concern. She ushered Sora into a back room, chattering the whole time about careless people who let their animals run wild, and pointed her to the telephone. While Sora was dialing the number and praying that her father's phone would be able to get a signal wherever he was, she listened vaguely as the woman issued orders to a fleet of children, telling them to bring bandages and ointment and food for "the poor little thing." Much to her relief, she heard the phone ringing, and her father's reassuring voice answered. 

"Sora," he said. "I didn't expect you to call." 

"I got into trouble," she said. She briefly explained her odyssey in the mountains. Her father said little until she'd finished. 

"Hm," he said. "I won't scold you, because it's obvious to me that you did the best you could under the circumstances, but next time... don't guess, ask directions." 

"You told me not to tell anyone where I lived," she said. "How can I ask directions if I can't tell them where I'm going?" 

"Oh. Good point." She could almost hear her father blushing. "Well, for future reference, the road you want is the one that goes between the butcher's shop and the general store. The others just lead out to farmhouses, or they meander off into the mountains and disappear, for all I know." 

"The butcher's and the general store," she repeated. "All right. I'll remember that next time... which should be in about five minutes. I'm ready to go home." 

"Stay where you are," he told her. "I'm on my way home, anyway. I'll pick you up." 

"You're coming home already?" she asked, surprised. She knew he'd been gone a few hours, by now, but it was only early afternoon, and she hadn't expected him to return until evening. 

"I've done all I can do here for one day. I'm already on the road now. Stay where you are. Have some lunch. I should be there in about an hour." 

"All right. I'll see you soon, then. Thanks, Dad." 

"Any time, Sora. Take care of yourself." 

"You too. Drive safe. Don't get lost," she added, as a feeble joke. 

By the time she'd said goodbye, one of the restaurant woman's daughters had appeared at her elbow, carefully holding a tray with both hands. The girl was only about six years old, and the tray was almost too big for her. It contained a large bowl of soup, several rice-cakes, and a plate of fish, along with a steaming cup of tea surrounded by a small puddle where it had sloshed. Sora rescued the girl by taking the tray out of her unsteady and setting it on the desk where she'd been sitting. 

"Thank you very much," she told the little girl. 

The little girl bowed politely and scampered out of the room. 

Finding herself alone, she set about eating the food she'd been brought. Fighting off the dogs and hiking up and down mountains had taken more out of her than she'd expected, and she realized she was starving. Even so, the woman had given her enough food to feed her not only lunch, but dinner and another lunch after that as well. Fortunately, once Piyomon was added into the equation, everything added up fairly well. Sora gave all the rice cakes to Piyomon and ate the rest herself. Everything tasted wonderful - she'd been in upscale restaurants in Tokyo where the food hadn't been as good. When she'd had all she wanted, she gathered up the leftovers and carried the tray back to her hostess. 

"Are you feeling better now?" asked the woman. "Here, let me have a look at your arm... Ooh, that's a nasty bite you've got. Here, let's get you washed off, I should have done that right away... Takeo, where are those bandages I asked you to bring? Hanami, run and get the ointment, like a good girl..." 

Sora submitted to having her arm washed and bandaged. Just as they were finished bandaging her leg, a bell chimed over the door, and her father walked in. His normally pale complexion was nearly white with worry. 

"Sora!" he said. "Well, you look like you're still in one piece. I was worried about you, Sora." 

"I told you I was all right," she said, getting up and gingerly testing her sore leg. It felt much less painful with the bandage on it, but it still throbbed and ached. 

"You'd have told me you were all right if you'd had your leg chewed off," he said. "You wouldn't have wanted to worry." 

"And you went and did it anyway," she said. "Well, I'm fine now. These people took good care of me." 

Professor Takenouchi bowed politely to the restaurant woman. "Thank you for looking after my daughter. I'm very grateful to you all." 

"We were glad to do it," the woman answered. "Poor little thing, I couldn't have done any differently. Come back again when she's feeling better, and we'll give you the best dinner in town. I don't want you to go away thinking we're all like the careless wretch who let their dogs attack this poor girl." 

The professor nodded and guided Sora out of the restaurant. Looking over her shoulder, Sora could see the faces of all the children - she counted at least five - peering out the windows at her as she climbed into the car. As the motor started and they began rolling back up the hill toward the house, she heaved a sigh of relief. 

"Now," he said, "tell me again how all this happened. You say you got lost coming out of town?" 

Sora nodded. "That's right. I couldn't figure out which road I'd come in by, and I picked the wrong one... and then there was a fork in the road, and I didn't know which one to use." 

"Sounds... confusing," said her father vaguely. "And then you met an old woman. Did she give a name?" 

"No, come to think of it, she didn't. Why? Is it important?" 

"Not really. Most of the people in town know each other by name; I thought perhaps I might ask and see if she's caused this kind of trouble before. Just idle curiosity, I suppose." 

Sora nodded; her father had enough of _that_ for a whole team of researchers. 

"She said she'd let me call you on her phone so you could come get me, but Piyomon noticed there weren't any phone lines. I thought that was weird. I guess maybe she could have had a cell phone like yours, though..." 

"It's possible," said her father. "Or there could have been lines you couldn't see them. Why would Piyomon notice there weren't any, anyway?" 

"She's a bird," said Sora with a shrug. "She likes to sit on them, just like any other bird." 

"They feel nice," Piyomon put in. 

The professor nodded. "I'd imagine that there's enough digital information passing through phone lines for them to seem quite attractive to a Digimon. I should research that and see if there are any similar preferences among other Digimon species... Ehm. I'm off the subject, aren't I? Where were we?" 

"With the woman and the dogs," Piyomon prompted. 

"Oh. Right. Well, for future information, _never_ run from a guard dog. It makes you think you're up to something, and then they're more likely to attack. Keep your eyes on them and walk away slowly. There are a lot of farmers around here who keeps guard dogs, and some of them can be fierce... I didn't do a good job preparing you for this, did I? I'm so used to you being able to take care of yourself..." 

"It's all right," said Sora. "I should have known better, anyway." Now that she was safe with her father, her feeling that there had been something uncanny about the old woman and her dogs was beginning to seem silly. Of course a woman living all alone on a mountain would want guard dogs, and they probably weren't used to strangers. Looking back on the episode, she supposed it would have been a wonder if she hadn't done something to annoy them - after all, she wasn't very well-versed in canine behavior. She'd never had much more to do with dogs than playing with puppies at a pet store. 

"It's still strange, though..." she murmured. 

"What is?" her father asked. 

"The way Piyomon's attacks didn't affect them," Sora said. "They were just animals. She should have been able to fight them off, but nothing worked." 

"I really tried," said Piyomon sadly. "I didn't _mean_ to let Sora get hurt." 

"I know you didn't," said the professor. "I wouldn't worry about it too much." 

"Piyomon says she thinks there's something here that doesn't agree with Digimon," Sora volunteered. "Do you think that could be it? What do you think it is?" 

"I don't know. I'd have to think about it," he answered. "I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you." 

"But what if it happens again?" 

"Don't worry about it," he repeated. "Just be careful who you talk to... and don't bother any more dogs." 

It took less time to get home by car than it had to go to town by bicycle. The professor unhooked Sora's bike from the roof of the car and propped it next to the front steps while Sora tried to extricate herself from the car. Her bites were aching almost overwhelmingly, despite the bandages and ointment they'd been covered with, and the rest of her felt as battered as if she'd been beaten with large sticks. She was grateful to have her father's arm to lean on as they climbed the front steps. She collapsed in an easy chair in the living room, and her father knelt on the floor next to her. 

"Let's have a look at you," he said, indicating her bandages. 

"The lady already washed them," said Sora sleepily. Whether it was the excitement of the day, blood loss, or just relief at being back home, she felt she was about to doze off where she sat. 

"I just want to double-check. Humor me." 

Sora saw no need to protest. He gently undid her bandages, taking care not to do anything that would make her hurt more than she already did. He looked over her injuries, clicking his tongue. They looked ugly and swollen despite the care given to them. 

"These are going to need a little extra care," he said. "I'm going to get some medicine. Lucky I had the foresight to bring a first-aid kit." 

He walked upstairs, and Sora listened dreamily as he bumped around, opening boxes by the sound of things. Then there was a moment of silence. He reappeared finally, carrying a washcloth soaked in something powerfully scented. Sora wrinkled her nose a little; the smell wasn't really bad, but it was strong. 

"I'm no doctor," he said conversationally, "but I manage to batter and bruise myself often enough to know what works and what doesn't. I think this stuff would cure the bubonic plague if you could convince yourself to swallow it." 

"It _smells_ like it ought to work," said Sora. 

Her father laughed and began gently daubing the liquid onto her aching arm. Whatever the stuff was, it seemed worth her father's endorsement. Almost as soon as it touched her skin, the ache began to subside, and she could have sworn the swelling was going down as she watched. Certainly she felt a lot better by the time he was tying her bandages up; the throbbing that had plagued her finally eased. 

"How's that?" he asked. 

"Big improvement," she said. "Thanks, Dad." 

"You're very welcome. Now, repay the favor, and don't do that again." 

"I won't," she promised. 

"Good. Well, now that I'm here, and I don't have anything else to do... what should we do?" 

"Nothing strenuous," said Sora. Despite the improvement in her condition, she still felt disinclined to move. "Can we watch one of those movies we bought?" 

"Of course we can. Which one?" 

"Both!" said Piyomon. 

Professor Takenouchi laughed. "Good choice. All right, which one first?" 

They finally managed to choose one and slip it into the VCR, and they all settled down to watch the movie... or at least, make a pretense of watching the movie. The professor had his eyes more-or- less fixed on the screen, but he'd also pulled out a yellow pad of paper and was occasionally jotting things onto it, and his expression was preoccupied. As for Sora, she was still running over the incident with the dogs in her mind. On the surface, it was all perfectly reasonable: She'd gotten herself lost, a nice old lady had tried to help her, but Sora had made the mistake of annoying her guard dogs, and the woman had been unable to call them off. It all made perfect sense... 

If only it would stop bothering her. 

To Be Continued...


	2. Hunting Dogs

**Hunting Dogs**

**By: SilvorMoon**

Once again, Sora walked in the fog. There was a path under her feet of hard-packed gray earth, and the trees were gray-barked. If their leaves were green, they were too high above her and too dimly lit to be seen. All she could see were varying shades of gray, brown, and black. She was following the road, trying to get back home. 

The path in front of her diverged, splitting neatly in two. Sora stared at it, trying to remember which way was the right way. One fork had led her back to the village; the other led to the old woman's hut. Which way should she go? Which way? 

Something flickered in the fog, like a pale silvery light. It enticed her forward, and she took the left-hand path and began to walk. She realized almost instantly that she had gone the wrong way, that the trees were getting darker, growing closer together. With their squat trunks and gnarled limbs, they looked like nothing more than so many multi-limbed beasts, hunkering down as they prepared to spring. Sora was frightened of them, and yet she found that she could not turn herself away from them. Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own, and they kept walking closer and closer to the flashing light... 

Suddenly, standing before her was the old woman's hut. It had to be - she knew it was - but it looked wrong. It looked black and decayed, like an abandoned, half-burned out building, left to rot in years of rain and ready to collapse. The woman stood before it, but she was no longer the kindly old lady Sora remembered. Her face was drawn and skull-like, her hair wild, her body bent and twisted, her eyes glowing with a strange greenish light. The cane she leaned on had a strange look to it, and Sora realized with a shock that it was not a stick at all, but an old bone carved with strange markings. Dogs slunk about her, black as shadows, with glowing red eyes and blade-like ridges down their spines. Sora stared in horrified fascination, and then began to turn and run, knowing she had to get away before it was too late. Then she heard footsteps behind her, soft as a sleeping child's breathing, but somehow clearly audible in the silent forest. Sora turned towards them, knowing already what she was going to see. 

It was the Gray Man. His eyes blazed more brightly than ever, and in his hand, he bore a long, slender tree branch, still tipped with a spray of young green leaves. He walked past Sora without acknowledging her, all his attention fixed on the old hag and her dogs. 

"Who are you?" the crone demanded in a rasp of a voice. "What do you want with me?" 

"You know who I am, and what I want," he said. "I have been sent to put you and your kind in your places. Tell me your name, crone." 

"You wouldn't understand it if I told you," she sneered. "Go away. You're as green as spring grass, compared to me." 

"Tell me your name!" the Gray Man repeated. He thrust out the staff, pointing it at her, and she cringed away. 

"Ssss," she hissed. "Call me False Turning, then." 

"And what are these creatures?" 

"These are Dead Ends." 

"False Turning, what was your business here today?" 

"Whatever it was, it was my own, and none of yours." 

"It is my business. You will tell me, or I will compel you to tell me." 

The crone's manner turned servile. "You wouldn't torment an old lady for doing her own work, would you? I just saw something strange moving in the forest today and thought I'd have a closer look at it, is all. I meant no harm, no harm at all." 

"You lie," he said. "You lured an innocent girl who was nowhere near your domain off the path and nearly had her in your home, and she never would have come out alive. Do you deny it?" 

"I had to," said False Turning sullenly. "There was a strange power around her. I had to see for myself what her nature was. It was self-defense." 

"It was greed, I think. You wanted that power for yourself, before any of the greater spirits could find her, isn't that so?" 

She hissed again. "What of it? It's about time I had a little something of my own!" 

"You had no right to do it," said the Gray Man. "Now you will be punished." 

"That I will not!" she answered. "Get him, my pets! Show him not to bite off more than he can chew!" 

The hideous hounds leaped for him, and Sora tried to scream as she saw them lunging for his throat, but her voice didn't seem to want to work... 

The Gray Man whipped his staff at them, striking them with its leafy end. The blow barely had enough strength behind it to swat a fly, much less drive off a ravening dog the size of a bear, but incredibly, the dog he struck went flying through the air more than ten yards. It smacked into a tree, and there was a snap as its back broke. It whimpered and lay still. The other dogs backed away as the stick swung back the other way, whimpering as if the leaves that touched them were flame rather than foliage. 

"Don't just stand there, you miserable whelps!" the hag shrieked. "Get him! Get him! Circle him and strike him!" 

Goaded by the sound of their mistress's voice, the four remaining dogs tried to obey, but the Gray Man was quicker. He whirled in a tight circle, battering dogs left and right. One met its end the same way as the pack leader, slamming into a tree and cracking its skull, and it fell dead without even a whimper. Another was dealt a glancing blow and hobbled off with a leg broken. The third, quicker than the rest, managed to snap his jaws onto the Gray Man's cloak, throwing him off-balance. He planted the end of his staff into the earth and shouted something, and rings of something like fog made solid rolled away from him, shoving the dogs away and sending them spinning through the air as if they'd been lifted by a tornado, scattering them around the clearing, where they fell, dazed and whimpering. The Gray Man began to advance, and they scattered, running off into the foggy forest with their tails between their legs. The crone stared, uncomprehending. 

"How did you do that?" she croaked. "You - you're no spirit. How could you do that?" 

"I am more than a spirit," he said. "Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water obey me, and you too must do my bidding, or face the consequences." 

The old woman stared at him with an expression of dawning comprehension. "But that - that means you're - but I hadn't thought there _were_ any..." 

"You have overstepped your boundaries, hag," he said. "It is my duty to punish you. I will now send you back to the heart of the mountain from which you were born." 

"No!" she begged. "Please, great one, have mercy on an old woman..." 

"Too late," he said. "By the power that is given to me..." 

He raised his branch, and there was a tremendous rush as of a mighty wind, and all other words he said were lost. Sora felt a powerful pressure wash over her, and she closed her eyes tightly... 

When she opened them, she was lying in bed with the sun shining through her window. 

"That," she said, "was way too weird." 

"Good morning, Sora!" Piyomon chirped happily. "You overslept. That's okay. Your dad did, too. He's gone now, but he left you a note." 

"Oh," said Sora. She was still feeling somewhat groggy after the intense dream. She couldn't even remember how she'd wound up here in her bedroom in the first place - her last memory was of sitting in the living room after dinner, reading one of the books she'd brought with her, listening to the comforting sound of her father going over his notes nearby. After that, things were a blur. 

"Where's the note?" she asked. 

Piyomon proffered a piece of paper. Predictably, it had been torn from her father's trusty yellow notepad, and the writing on it was the familiar thin, spidery, slightly untidy script her father always used. 

_Dear Sora,_ it read, _you fell asleep last night while you were reading, so I took the liberty of putting you to bed. I haven't had to do that since you were a tiny little thing. I hope your arm is feeling better. If it gives you any trouble, don't suffer in silence, tell me. Anyway, I've got some contacts in town I wanted to check up on, so I'll be there most of the morning. If you wake up before noon, come down and have lunch with me. I'll be waiting at the pizza parlor. There's only one, so you won't be able to miss it. If you oversleep, I'll probably be home by then, so disregard this note._

Sora laughed. That was her father from beginning to end, all good intentions and disorganized thoughts. However, reading his note _did_ remind her of the episode the previous day with the dogs. She carefully peeled off the bandages on her arm, dreading what she might see, but it seemed to have healed up as well as could have been expected in such a short amount of time. The swelling had gone down considerably, and while it didn't look pretty, it didn't hurt at all. Whatever the smelly stuff her father had given her was, it obviously worked. Just to be sure, she rolled up her jeans to check her leg, noticing as she did so that she was still _wearing_ jeans - still slightly stained from her trek through the woods. The thought that she'd been wearing her mud-, blood-, and sweat-stained garments all night long was a bit of a shock to her domestic nature. Getting a little sweaty playing sports was one thing, but not getting cleaned up afterwards was another thing altogether. She glanced at her watch and discovered that it was a few minutes after ten. 

"What do you think, Piyo?" she asked. "Would a bath sound good before we go to town?" 

"Yeah!" Piyomon cheered. 

That was enough for Sora to make up her mind. She hopped out of bed and began making her way towards the bathroom. On her way there, just on an impulse, she stopped to look out the window. The sun was shining brightly, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There certainly wasn't any thick gray fog. There were no strange gray men, either. 

She shook her head and turned her attention to the mission at hand. Before Piyomon had moved in permanently, Sora's idea of the best way to start the day had usually involved a hot shower. Piyomon had changed that. Like any other bird, her idea of the best way to get clean was to find a suitable body of water - not too shallow, not too deep - and splash in it. She didn't care for the idea of showers, so Sora had adjusted. Now she took baths with the shower curtain drawn tightly around the tub so Piyomon could splash to her heart's content. 

On a day like this, a soak in a hot tub felt good to her, too. She'd bruised herself in several places when she'd fallen off her bike, and strained a few muscles in her struggle to escape, and she was stiff and sore all over. She stripped off her grungy clothing and lowered herself carefully into the tub, gritting her teeth as the hot water made her wounded leg sting. It wasn't pleasant, after a pain-free night, to wake her injuries up again, but she reminded herself sternly that her arm had to stay clean if it was going to get well and forced herself to put it into the water as well. It hurt fiercely, as she'd known it would, but the pain quickly subsided, and the heat began to feel soothing rather than painful. She allowed herself to sink back into the water and let her mind wander. 

*_I still feel awfully sore. I wonder if I had better not just stay here and wait for Dad to come home. I shouldn't risk hurting myself again..._* 

Something in her gave a guilty twinge, and she frowned. Who was she trying to fool? She knew she was well enough to go into town if she wanted to; the ride down the trail was an easy one, all downhill, so that she would hardly have to pedal at all. What was really bothering her was a lingering fear, fear of... 

_...It ran down the trail as fast as it could, sniffing frantically, its slimy wet nose pressed to the ground as it followed the trail. It could smell her blood on the still earth, unmistakable on ground where humans seldom set foot. As long as it had her scent in its nostrils, it would follow her to the end of the earth, and then it would pounce and tear and shred and..._* 

Sora's eyes snapped open. She'd had no idea she'd closed them, before then, and she looked around to get her bearings. Had she been dreaming again? 

*_I'm still rattled,_* she told herself. *_I guess that's only natural, after being attacked by a bunch of wild dogs. No wonder I'm having crazy nightmares._* 

"Hey, Piyomon," she said, "did you have any dreams last night?" 

"Yeah," she said. "I dreamed you and I were in a karaoke contest. Some of the others were there, and they kept complaining it was their turn to sing and trying to take the microphone away. Then Mimi and Miyako got in a fight over it, and then I woke up." 

Sora smiled a little. "Sounds like your dreams are a lot more fun than mine." 

"Really?" asked Piyomon. "What did you dream?" 

"About that old lady, and those dogs," said Sora. "And someone else was there - a man all in gray, with gray hair and gray eyes." 

"A gray man," Piyomon murmured. "That sounds kind of spooky." 

"He is, a little," said Sora. "This is the second time I've dreamed about him - I saw him yesterday, too. I mean, I dreamed him, but it was just like I had seen him. Does that make sense?" Piyomon shook her head. Sora shrugged and went on. "Anyway, he's spooky, sort of, but he's not scary like the dogs were scary. He doesn't scare me at all. He's just like... like I feel when I look at the fog on the mountains. Like he's something really old and really powerful, somebody very wise and strong who could be really dangerous if I made him angry. But he's never angry at me. I'm not really sure, but I think he's on my side... if he's on anyone's side. He doesn't want to hurt me anyway. I'm sure he could, but he never does." 

"You're talking about him like you think he's real," said Piyomon dubiously. 

"Maybe I'm crazy," said Sora. "Maybe it's something in this mountain air. It's just... I've never had dreams like these before. They _seem_ real... I couldn't tell anyone but you about this kind of thing, though. They'd all think I'm crazy." 

"Tell your dad," Piyomon encouraged. "He won't think you're crazy." 

Sora gave a whimsical laugh. "True! Dad never thinks anyone's crazy, not even those people who claim to have seen Elvis in the Speed-E-Mart." 

Piyomon giggled. "Maybe they did!" 

"Maybe you're right," said Sora, smiling. "All right. I guess I'll tell dad about them when he gets home." 

"Aren't we going for pizza?" Piyomon asked plaintively. 

"Well... I guess we should, but..." Sora blushed. "I'm kind of scared." 

"Scared? Of what?" 

"Oh, it's stupid," said Sora. "I just keep feeling like last time I went down to the village, something really bad happened, so if I go down again, something bad will happen again. Maybe I'm just being silly, but..." 

"I don't think you're being silly," said Piyomon. "We won't go if you don't want to. I can wait. Maybe your dad will bring some pizza back with him." 

That made Sora feel guilty. She was being childish, disappointing her father and her partner just because she was a little scared of something that probably wasn't going to happen at all. Hadn't she always said that she'd go through anything to be able to spend more time with her father? She had to be crazy, passing up an opportunity like this because of a silly nightmare. 

"I didn't say I didn't want to go," she told Piyomon. "We'll just keep our eyes peeled for stray dogs, that's all." 

"Yippee!" Piyomon cheered. She fluttered her wings, spraying water and soapsuds in all directions, and Sora squeaked as she was spattered with droplets and wet feathers. "Let's hurry up so we can go!" 

Sora did pick up her pace. She dried herself off quickly, found some clean garments, and hastily brushed out her hair. Once she was presentable, she headed out to the front porch to check on her bike. It was right where her father had propped it, leaning rather lopsidedly against the steps. It looked somewhat the worse for wear after its trip through the woods - it was very muddy, and dead leaves were sticking to it in places. Thankfully, her father appeared to have had the sense to take her groceries in and put them away, so at least the food hadn't been left out all night to spice the diet of the local woodland creatures. Sora frowned at the dirt on her formerly shiny vehicle and brushed it off a bit before giving the job up as hopeless. She told herself it wouldn't matter if it was clean or not, as she was about to take it back into the woods anyway, and at the same time, wondered if there might be a hose around here she could spray it with. She resolved to ask her father, when she saw him. 

They set off down the trail, but at a much slower and more careful pace than they had used the day before. Both of them were continuously looking this way and that, ever on the watch for trouble. Despite her resolutions not to be spooked, Sora found herself turning to stare every time she heard the wind sigh in the trees or an animal rustling in the forest. Each time, she told herself it was nothing, and turned her eyes back to the road, but whenever she heard a new noise, she found herself turning to stare again. 

The oddest thing was that, after a while, she became convinced that it wasn't just her imagination that was telling her something odd was afoot. About a quarter of the way down the trail, she was sure she saw something gliding swiftly alongside her, trotting through the underbrush, just out of her clear sight. It was brownish in color and moved like an animal, and when she listened carefully, she could hear the softest of pad-pad-padding noises, as of an animal's footsteps. It moved as she moved, exactly keeping pace with her. It never came any closer, but it never went any further away, either. 

"Do you see that?" Sora whispered. 

"See what?" Piyomon whispered back. 

"That thing. The one moving just off the path. It's following us." 

"I don't see anything." 

"It's right there!" 

Sora pointed, and the thing seemed to jump, and vanish into thin air. 

"Okay, it isn't there," said Sora. "I think I scared it, whatever it was." 

"Probably just an animal," Piyomon said. "Don't worry about it." 

Sora thought she heard a frown in the bird's voice, though it didn't show on her face (Piyomon's beak wasn't made for frowning, anyway). From the tone, Sora guessed that she thought her partner was seeing things that weren't there. Sora couldn't blame her; she wasn't completely sure she'd seen the thing herself. With a sigh, she leaned on her pedals and pressed the bike to roll a bit more swiftly. Even so, she was sure that somewhere behind her, she could hear the steady pad-pad-padding of an animal's feet... 

*_Whoever or whatever you are, just don't bother me,_* she told it silently. *_You can follow me all you want as long as you don't give me any trouble. If you do, I'll - I'll send the Gray Man to do for you like he did to those dogs!_* 

Almost as if it had heard her, the padding stopped, and Sora found herself looking down at the village. An unaccountable relief swept over her. She could hardly imagine something bad happening to her as long as she was surrounded by other humans. 

"We're almost there, Pi!" she said. "Let's go!" 

She put on a final burst of speed, and they rolled down the hill at top speed until there were too many people in her way to dodge. She slowed to a gentle roll, and then halted altogether so she could dismount and walk. A few people waved at her in a familiar fashion as she passed. 

"Now to find the pizza parlor," she said. "It's got to be around here somewhere... How many stores can this place hold, anyway?" 

They began walking slowly up the street in the direction Sora guessed was the most likely. As they walked, she peered at the buildings, trying to fix them all in her memory. She wanted her mental map of this town completed as quickly as possible, so she couldn't lose herself again. It pleased her to see that things were already starting to look familiar to her: there was the butcher's shop and the general store her father had mentioned, and there was the grocery where she'd bought the cake and the vegetables, and there was the restaurant where the kind woman had fed and bandaged her, and there... 

Sora stopped walking. Piyomon, who had been trotting along at her heels, ran into her and nearly fell over. 

"What did you stop for?" she asked. 

Sora pointed. "Do you see what I see?" 

Piyomon looked. In front of her were two houses. They were ordinary-looking houses, with flower boxes out front, decorative curtains in bright colors adorning the windows, and lines with laundry flapping in the back yards. 

"I don't see anything," said Piyomon. 

"Neither do I," said Sora. "That's what bothers me." 

"I don't get it." 

"I remember these houses," said Sora. "I remember seeing those checkered curtains there, and those purple flowers in the window. I remember that red roof. I saw these houses yesterday. We walked by them yesterday. This is where the path was." 

"What path?" 

"The wrong one," she said. "The one we took to get to the old woman's house." 

"But there isn't a path here now," said Piyomon, looking very confused. 

"Exactly." 

There was a pause as Piyomon tried to work through that. 

"Maybe these aren't the same houses," she suggested. "We don't know our way around very well... Maybe they just _look_ like the ones you remember." 

"Maybe," said Sora. "And maybe something very strange is going on here." 

Once again, she recalled her dream of the Gray Man and the old crone. What had she called herself? False Turning? Could that have something to do with the missing trail - the one that had seemed to change even as she was walking on it? Was that why it had forked into two trails when she'd been sure she had only seen one? Or was she just going crazy? 

None of the possibilities were very appealing. 

They continued their journey until they saw the sign of the pizza parlor waving in the breeze. It was a tiny little restaurant being run out of the downstairs floor of somebody's house. A large picture window let the sun shine in on the dining area, which was just barely large enough to hold eight tables of varying sizes and shapes, obviously consisting of whatever could be scrounged up. The chairs were likewise mismatched - some wooden, some metal, some with cushioned seats, some that could be folded up and put away on a slow day. Someone had gone through the trouble of trying to achieve some measure of consistency by covering all the tables with matching green plastic tablecloths, but they failed to conceal the overall air of incongruity. Nevertheless, the hodgepodge of furniture and general scruffiness served to give it a comfortable, inviting feel that obviously must have helped the rest of the town accept something as exotic as a pizza parlor. All of the tables were full. 

Sora parked her bicycle outside and threaded her way through the crowded restaurant, savoring the smell of cooking food that hung thickly on the air. The room was full of happy customers, but thankfully, most of them seemed to be too intent on their food to worry about the redheaded girl being followed by an oversized bird. The pair dodged past them as quickly as they could, making their way to a small table in the corner where Professor Takenouchi sat, shuffling through his collection of research tools. 

"Hi, Dad!" she greeted him. "Look, I made it up, after all!" 

He greeted her with a warm smile. "So you did. You look much better than you did yesterday." 

"I feel better," she said. She began rearranging some of the odds and ends stacked on the table in front of her; it would be hard to eat when the space her plate should have occupied was filled with scraps of paper, a camera, a tape recorder, several audiotapes, and three notebooks in varying colors. "Did you get any work done today?" 

"Not as much as I would have liked," he answered with a grimace. "So far it seems like everyone I've talked to either doesn't know what I want to know, or they aren't talking. What little I've scrounged up is mostly hearsay. That doesn't help me very much. Still, I did find time to work on one or two other projects while I was down here, so it wasn't a total loss." 

"Good," she said. She laughed a little. "Mom would be pretty mad if I told her you were out here doing nothing." 

He smiled and laughed with her, but she thought his laugh sounded a bit forced. "Perhaps we'll give her a call this evening." 

"Can we eat now?" asked Piyomon plaintively. "It's time for lunch, and we didn't even have breakfast!" 

"In that case, food should be our first priority," the professor agreed seriously. "Waitress! We're ready to order." 

The restaurant's menu was simple enough: cheese or pepperoni, take it or leave it. The Takenouchis chose to go all out, and they were shortly thereafter presented with a steaming-hot pizza that was nearly as large as the table. For a moment, all was quiet as the three of them concentrated on eating. 

Eventually, the professor finished off his second slice and set aside the crusts - the pizza bones, as he liked to call them - and took a deep breath, closing his eyes as if steeling himself for something. Sora eyed him apprehensively, wondering what was making him look so serious. 

"So," he said at last, "you're sure you're feeling better? Your bites aren't giving you any trouble, are they?" 

"No, not really," she said. "They hardly hurt at all. Really." 

"You gave me a scare yesterday," he said. "I was more scared than I let on, I think. Last night, I was lying awake, thinking about all the things that could have happened... You could have been lost in those mountains forever. You could have been mauled by those dogs, and I might never have found you... and it would have been my fault for bringing you here in the first place. It terrified me." 

"It wouldn't have been your fault," she assured him. "It was _my_ fault for thinking I know how to navigate in the wilderness in the first place, and for talking to strange people, especially when you told me not to. And I probably should have known better than to run from a guard dog, too." 

"Well, maybe so," he agreed. "Still, I do worry. I have to wonder if I wasn't a bit overconfident, bringing you here and leaving you alone so much. I'm beginning to think it might be better if you went home." 

"No!" she protested. "Please, Dad. I want to stay here with you. I won't do anything else stupid, I promise." 

"I'm not saying anything you did was wrong," said her father. "I'm not punishing you for anything. I'm just concerned about your safety." 

"I can take care of myself," she said. She crossed her arms in a stubborn gesture, and accidently hit herself in a sore spot. "Ow." 

"You aren't as healed as all that, I see," he said. "Imagine if your mother found out about this! She'd have me skinned, if she didn't do it personally." 

"I won't tell her," said Sora. "I won't say anything to anyone about this if you just let me stay." 

The professor opened his mouth to begin to argue. However, before he could say anything, there was a disturbance in the front of the restaurant, as people sitting closest to the window suddenly stood up to get a better look at something. With the sun slanting strongly into her eyes, Sora couldn't plainly see from where she sat what everyone was looking like, but she had the impression that someone was walking up the street carrying something. Everyone was pointing and exclaiming to each other. As he took note of the pandemonium, Professor Takenouchi rose from his seat. 

"Wait right there," he said. "I want to check this out for myself." 

Without waiting for a response, he got up and walked quickly out of the building. Sora stared a moment, nonplussed, and then rose to her feet and hurried to follow him. She wasn't alone; most of the other diners seemed to have forgotten about their food and were crowding to squeeze through the narrow door. It took some time and a little judicious shoving before Sora could finally make it out into the street to rejoin her father. She sighted him first and went to stand with him, so she could see what he was looking at that was making him look so grave. Then she saw, and wished she hadn't. 

It was her acquaintance from the day before, the friendly boy who had invited her to play soccer with him. Sora had to stare a moment before she recognized him - not because she had only known him for a few minutes, but because he hardly looked like himself anymore. His face was frozen in a silent gasp of horror, his eyes wide and unseeing. His clothing was not just torn, but shredded, until only scraps of it still clung loosely together, and all of it was stained red-black. Sora felt her stomach clench, and she swallowed hard and turned away, trying to block out the sight. Her father put his arm around her and let her hide her face against his shoulder; she felt Piyomon press against her leg supportively. 

"What has happened here?" she heard her father say. 

"I found him," answered the man carrying the body. "He was supposed to have been playing in the forest near here, but he didn't come home for lunch. His mother asked me to keep an eye out for him. I was too late. Looks like an animal got him." 

"I think we should let the authorities decide what happened," Professor Takenouchi replied. "This should be reported to the police. You probably shouldn't have moved him, but it's too late for that now. At the very least, let's cover him up. Think of his mother if she should see him this way." 

Someone returned to the restaurant and returned with one of the green tablecloths, and the gory sight was mercifully covered. The man and his grisly burden were escorted to the local constabulary by a concerned crowd, and the professor guided his daughter away from it all. 

"It's all right, honey," he said softly. "You can look now." 

"That was awful," she said thickly, still hiding her face in his shirt. 

"I know it was. I wish I hadn't seen it, myself. Are you going to be all right?" 

She sniffled. "He was my friend. He helped me when I needed help, and he was going to play soccer with me, and now..." 

"Shh, shh. I know, honey, and I'm sorry, too. Nobody deserves that." 

"What's going to happen now?" asked Sora. She chanced a look around; the streets were mostly empty, and she found she was being led slowly to the edge of town. 

"There will be an investigation, most likely," her father replied. "Probably they'll come to the conclusion that it was some kind of wild animal that did it. That seems most likely." 

"Do you think it was an animal?" 

"I prefer to keep an open mind," he said. 

"You think it was one of those things, don't you?" she asked. "One of the demons you came looking for." 

"If I told anyone I thought that, they'd ship me straight out of town and into an asylum," he said. "And I certainly have no reason to think it _was_ a supernatural entity. There are wild animals in the mountains that might attack a human. Bears, maybe." 

"A bear didn't do that," said Sora. "I saw his clothes. They weren't torn, they were slashed, like with a knife." 

Her father looked at her long and hard. "You are getting very observant." 

Sora shrugged weakly. "I don't need to be. I can't get the picture out of my head." 

"Well, don't go around town saying you think there's some kind of magical monster on the loose. Let's keep these theories between you and me." 

"There is something bad going on here," said Sora. "I didn't believe it before - I didn't want to - but I believe it now." She paused a moment. "Dad, when I came to town today, something was following me, and Piyomon couldn't see it, but I could. It moved like an animal." 

She watched her father's face, and saw an expression of shock and worry flash across it before his professional calm could smooth it away. 

"Really?" he said. "Hmm." 

"Do you think it could have been the same kind of creature?" 

"Well, seeing as how it didn't bother you, I'd say that's really a moot point," her father replied. "But, Sora, this does put things in a new light. That boy was a native here. He would have lived his whole life in these hills. He should have known what was safe and what meant danger, and he was within a short walk of the town when he was found. This wasn't a matter of doing something careless. Animal, human, demon, whatever it may be, there's something near this town that's capable of killing people. Are you absolutely sure you want to stay here?" 

Sora hesitated. "Are _you_ staying?" 

He half-smiled. "I have to. I have work to do." 

"Then I'm staying with you," she said firmly. "I can't leave you here all alone, and I'm not going home and telling Mom I left you here to be eaten by whatevers. We'll stay here and protect each other." 

"I have a better idea," he said. "Let's protect each other back at the house. I've rather lost my appetite for lunch, haven't you?" 

Sora and Piyomon nodded. 

"Right, then. We'll go home and try to unwind a bit," he said. "Come to think of it, I've lost my impetus to work, too." 

"I left my bike behind," said Sora. 

"Don't worry. I'll pick it up for you later. Nobody will bother it. That's the nice thing about living in a town like this - you can trust people." 

Continuing to speak reassuring words, he led his daughter back up the path. Sora half-listened, watching the shadows around her for any sign of a threat, but if there was anything stealthily padding alongside them, this time, not even she could see it. 

~*~

That night, Sora dreamed of the dead boy. This time, he wasn't being carried in the man's arms, but lying in the grass, partly shielded from sight by a few small shrubs. Not knowing what to do, Sora simply stood and stared, hardly daring to breathe. 

The bushes rustled. Something slunk into her line of sight, and she had to cover her mouth to stifle a gasp. The thing was jet black and hairless, with an emaciated, monkey-like body. Its long limbs were tipped with claws as long as her fingers, all of them looking paper thin but wickedly sharp. Springing from the base of its spine was a long tail with a hook at the end, reminding her of a scorpion's tail. Its head reminded her of a bull's, being broad and flat, with horns a short muzzle, but its mouth was full of jagged teeth. Its eyes were flat black, with a filmed-over look, like a dead thing's eyes. The whole thing had a diseased and slimy look to it that made her insides squirm. It paid no attention to her, but instead slunk slowly towards the fallen boy, snuffling and drooling. 

"No!" she shrieked. "Don't touch him!" 

The thing raised its head and seemed to look at her, though its gaze remained blank and unfocused. Its nostrils twitched as it snuffled wetly, and then it darted out a green-black tongue, tasting the air. Its jaws opened in a sibilant hiss. Slowly, it began moving towards her, panting in anticipation. 

*_Now I've done it,_* she thought, staring around her for a mode of escape. Her feet were no longer obeying her; she could no more escape than the trees around her could pull up their roots and walk away. The demon continued advancing, moving lazily, as if it knew full well that she couldn't escape it, and relished watching her ascending panic. As it drew nearer, she was sure she could feel something radiating from it, a chill like invisible fog. The air around it smelled of dust and decay. It took another slow, deliberate step towards her... then stopped and raised its head. Its eyes narrowed, and a low rumble began in the back of its throat. 

Sora heard the crunch of footfalls behind her, and she turned to see the Gray Man striding towards her. His mouth was set in a grim, hard line, and his silvery eyes blazed with fury. In his hand, he carried a slim silver sword ornamented with designs of climbing vines. He carried it as if it were weightless, but the gleam along its edge suggested that it was sharp enough to cleave through steel or stone. 

"Stand aside," he said softly. 

Sora started. It took a moment for it to sink in that the man was speaking to her. This was the first time he had ever addressed her, or even acknowledged that she was there, and she had begun to think that she was as much of a dream to him as he was to her. 

"Stand aside," he said again. He touched her shoulder gently, and she felt something run down her spine like cool water. She discovered that her feet would move again, and she hastened to obey, taking shelter in the trees from which the Gray Man had come. A fog was swirling in his wake, and she was sure she'd be invisible to anyone in front of her, though she could still see clearly what was going on. 

The Gray Man continued to advance on the demon, who crouched low on the ground and eyed him as if calculating whether or not he was close enough to pounce upon and tear his throat out. A warning gesture with the sword seemed to convince it that this would not be the best idea. 

"Don't try it," said the Gray Man. "I'm in no mood to be merciful to you. Try anything, and I'll destroy you and find another of your foul ilk to get my information from." 

The demon growled. It began slinking slowly to the side, trying to edge away. 

"Stop," the Gray Man ordered. "I want to talk to you. If you're wise, you'll give me the answers I want. Now, who put you up to this?" 

The demon muttered something unintelligible. It didn't sound like words to Sora, but more like the sounds a dog would make as it murmured in its sleep. However, it seemed to make sense to the man, because he listened attentively, with a deepening frown on his face. 

"That's not what I wanted to hear," he said. "Don't lie to me, lizard. You wouldn't have left your territory, or come so close to human hunters, of your own accord. Someone made you do it. Tell me who and I will let you live. Or do I have to coax you?" He raised his sword menacingly. 

The creature whimpered. Again it made those strange moaning sounds. The Gray Man raised his eyebrows slightly. 

"A tree?" he inquired. 

The demon nodded. 

"Interesting," said the Gray Man. "Did it speak to you, or...?" 

More moanings and mutterings. 

"I see," the man replied. "And where did you see it?" 

The demon raised a claw and pointed towards the mountains, and it spoke a few words. The Gray Man nodded. 

"I see," he said, nodding slowly. "I believe I can find it from here. Very well. Since you were cooperative, you will remain intact. However, there is still the matter of the human life you took... not to mention being out of bounds. For that, I will banish you back to the darkness until such time that no living thing walks this earth who can remember your crimes. By the power that is given to me..." 

He raised his sword. Light gleamed along its blade, rippling and flashing more brightly than the sun. The creature gave a howl and tried to escape, but the light grew too brilliant to see through, and then... 

Sora sat up in bed with a gasp. 

Sunlight was pouring through her window, spilling across her face. She got up and peered out the window, resting her forehead against the cool glass, letting her thoughts reorder themselves. 

One strange dream about a man in gray was just a dream. After all, she'd lived through all kinds of strange experiences, next to which a spectral man in archaic raiment was nothing out of the ordinary. Two such dreams was a coincidence. Three... three dreams that were so real and detailed that she could have sworn she'd lived them in her waking life, all of which involved the same strange man - _that_ had to mean something. 

*_He's real,_* she told herself. *_As real as I am, or the old crone and the dogs... or the thing that killed that boy. He's mixed up in it all, somehow. I'm sure he knows what's going on around here._* 

Outside her window, she could see the line of trees that led away from the house and out of sight. Though the morning sun was strong and bright, the shadows still lay thickly in the forest. It occurred to Sora that in every dream she'd had of the Gray Man, there had always been trees surrounding him. Even the tree branch he'd carried suggested close ties to the forest and to nature, perhaps to that very primal force that had made Piyomon feel so uneasy. Very briefly, Sora wondered if he might not even _be_ that force. One thing, though, was fixed in her mind: if the Gray Man was anywhere in the waking world, he would be in the forest. 

"Hey, Piyomon, are you awake?" she called. 

The pink bird, who had been perched at the foot of Sora's bed, opened her eyes, fluttered her wings, and looked around. 

"Oh, it's morning!" she chirped. 

Sora had to smile at her partner's delight simply at waking up to a sunny morning. 

"Yes, it is," she said. "Did you sleep well?" 

"I slept," Piyomon replied. "I had a funny dream, though... I don't remember it very well, though. There was a man in it, all dressed in gray. He was standing over your bed watching you." 

That settled things in Sora's mind. If she and Piyomon were both dreaming about this Gray Man, it had to mean something important. She glanced back at the window, where she could still see the trees of the forest lurking silently in the background. She nodded, her mind made up. 

"I wonder if Dad is up yet?" she mused. 

"Let's find out," said Piyomon. "Maybe he made breakfast!" 

Sora agreed that breakfast sounded like a good idea, whether it was made by her father or not. (Her private opinion was that she would be better off making breakfast herself; the last time her father had attempted to make breakfast, he had wound up producing an approximation of pancakes that nevertheless would have made better coasters than food.) The two of them walked downstairs and found the professor sitting at the kitchen table, staring out the window with a faraway expression in his eyes. He was holding a piece of buttered toast halfway between his plate and his mouth, having evidently forgotten it in mid-movement. 

"Aren't you going to eat that?" she asked him. 

"Hm?" he said. He blinked a few times, apparently reluctant to leave whatever dream he was lost in. It occurred to Sora for the first time to wonder if her father dreamed of the Gray Man as well, and whether it might be preying on his mind the same as it did on hers. She imagined that if he _was_ having the same sorts of dreams, they would probably occupy his thoughts even more than they did his daughter's. 

"Your breakfast looks like it's getting cold," she told him gently. "You might want to eat it before it gets completely stale." 

"Oh! Right you are," he said, looking somewhat sheepish. He glanced down at his food with an expression of vague distaste before taking a resolute bite of his toast. 

"You looked like you were a million miles away," said Sora, as she began searching the kitchen cabinet for cold cereal. 

"I was trying to solve a riddle," he said. "I can see several possible answers to it, but I'm afraid that until I can get more information, I'm stuck with only conjectures. Still, I did have a few ideas last night that I can pursue. Do you ever find that you can think of answers more easily in your sleep than you do when you're awake?" 

"You mean, like in a dream or something?" asked Sora. 

"Sometimes," he said. "I've been known to have an insight in a dream once in a blue moon. I was thinking more of that time just before you fall asleep, or when you're just waking up. When your mind is relaxed. Things seem clearer then, somehow. To me, anyway." 

"Oh," she said. She found she was slightly disappointed and slightly reassured in equal measures. If her father had mentioned strange dreams... 

"So I'm afraid I'm going to be traveling again for most of today," he finished. "I have a lot of ground to cover, physically and metaphorically. I might be late getting home tonight. I hope I won't, but it's a possibility, so if you get hungry and I'm not back yet, don't feel you'll have to wait around for me." 

"That's all right," she assured him. "I can entertain myself. Just... stay safe, all right?" 

"Don't worry," he said, smiling faintly. "It seems to be a rule of nature that monsters never appear to the people who are actively looking for them. They only show up when they're not wanted." 

"_Do_ you want to see a monster?" she asked. "I wouldn't, if it were me." 

"Of course I do," he answered. "How else am I going to know it's there?" 

They finished their breakfast in thoughtful silence. Professor Takenouchi lapsed back into daydreaming within moments, his dark eyes looking faintly troubled. He frowned from time to time, as if thinking of unpleasant possibilities. If he had been watching his daughter's expression, he might have noticed something similar occurring; even though she had made up her mind what she wanted to do, that didn't necessarily make it easier to do. It meant disobeying her father's orders, for one thing... and it meant putting herself in danger, and possibly Piyomon as well. Still, she had to know the truth somehow... 

"Well, I'm off," said the professor at last, shoving his plate away and taking a final gulp from his coffee cup. "Have a nice day, Sora. Stay out of trouble." His light tone faltered slightly as he added, "You might want to think about staying indoors today. It's... er, the indications are that it's going to rain today." 

Sora got the distinct impression that it wasn't the weather he was concerned about. She thought again of the body of the village boy, and felt an internal wrench. 

"I don't want any trouble," she told her father. "Come to think of it, I don't want to get rained on, either. I'll bet it's cold up here in the mountains, when it rains." 

"You bet it is," he replied. He ran a hand through her hair. "Well, goodbye." He started for the door. 

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Piyomon chirped. 

He looked at her. "What?" 

"Your bag of stuff. You left it under your chair." 

Professor Takenouchi blushed slightly, but he raised his head in the most lofty manner he could manage and said, "I knew that. I was just going to pick it up before you stopped me." 

Sora smiled tolerantly. "I knew that." 

"Well, so." The professor scooped up his bag, and fumbled to catch a few papers that were trying resolutely to slip out of the pockets they'd been shoved into. "All right, this really is goodbye! I'll see you two this evening, as early as I can manage it. Be good!" 

He walked briskly for the front door, into the sunlight that poured through it. For a moment, he was surrounded by a gold halo, and the soft winds of the morning swept around him and filled the tiny kitchen. Then he stepped away and shut the door behind him, leaving the room feeling dim and empty. Sora rose and peered out the window, watching him as he walked down the front steps, climbed into the little blue car, and began driving it down the winding path to the village. Soon he was lost among the trees. Sora waited, counting off sixty heartbeats, waiting to see if her absent-minded father would decide he'd forgotten something and turn back. When she was sure he was gone, only then did she turn around and face her partner. She found Piyomon watching her expectantly. 

"Are you worried about him?" asked the little bird. 

"A little," said Sora. "I've got a lot of things on my mind this morning." 

She began walking in the direction of the back door. Piyomon fluttered after her, looking puzzled. 

"Aren't we going to clean up the dishes?" she asked. 

"Later," Sora replied. "Nobody will notice. Dad said he wouldn't be back until nightfall, probably." 

"You're not going to clean up? That's not like you." 

"I know. Pi, listen. There's something I want to do - something I've got to find out. I know it's probably crazy. Maybe it's even dangerous, but I'm going to go crazy if I don't learn the truth soon." She smiled, a trifle grimly. "Maybe there's more of my dad in me than I thought." 

Piyomon looked at her worriedly. "What are you going to do?" 

"I'm going to look for the Gray Man." 

"But - but Sora... he's not real. You just dreamed about him. Well, _we_ just dreamed about him, but..." 

"Dad would say that just because you've only dreamed about it doesn't mean it's not real," said Sora. "Before I met you, I would have said _you_ probably couldn't exist - that the whole Digital World and magicians and monsters and angels probably didn't exist. And now I feel in my heart that the Gray Man exists... and that he's the only one who really knows what's going on in this place. I want to find him. Maybe he can help." 

"How are you going to find him?" asked Piyomon. "He could be anywhere." 

Sora looked out the back window. The sunlight didn't reach as strongly there, and the ground seemed coated in green and blue shadows. 

"He's in the forest somewhere," she said softly. "Right out there." 

"Your dad said not to go in there." 

"He said to stay in sight of the house, not that we couldn't go in at all." 

"Um," said Piyomon. She seemed to be trying to think of another objection, but her skill as a debater was not great. At last, she said, "I might not be able to protect you. I couldn't fight off the dogs, and if there's something in there..." 

"I know," said Sora. "I won't ask you to go with me." 

Piyomon ruffled her feathers in a manner that suggesting she was squaring her shoulders as best she could with only the avian equivalent thereof. "Well, if you're going, I'm going, too." 

Sora smiled. "I knew you would. Thanks, Pi." 

They walked out onto the back porch and trudged slowly across what had once been a scrap of lawn. There wasn't much left of it, now. No one had bothered to mow it in what appeared to be years, and it had become more and more overgrown with weeds as the years went by. One corner of the yard held what had once been something like a porch swing, now badly rusted, to the point where Sora wouldn't have trusted her slight weight to it. Another corner had a slight difference in the texture and quality of things growing on it that suggested it might have been a garden, once. The grass was above Sora's knees in some places, and Piyomon couldn't push through it at all, but was forced to hover above it instead. Here and there, a sapling no thicker than Sora's thumb sprouted up and put forth a few leaves. Sora guessed that if their growth wasn't stopped by something in the next few years, it would be impossible to tell where the yard left off and the forest began. 

She knew, though. She felt it the moment she stepped off of the land tamed, however minutely, by human hands and into the wild. Cool shadows fell over her, shadows with such presence that they seemed almost palpable, as if she'd had a light silk robe thrown over her. The air was heavy with the scent of pine needles and decomposing leaves. Sunlight became reduced to pinpricks in the canopy above her, a faraway dream, visible but untouchable as the stars in the night sky. She felt a tingle of trepidation, as if she'd just wandered into enemy territory, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a surge of appreciation that bordered on awe. There was something grand and ancient here, something that put her glossy city home to shame. Dangerous as this trip might be, she found she was reluctant to turn back. 

"Sora," said Piyomon softly, "I hear something." 

Sora stopped. She became aware suddenly that something else had stopped as well, something that pattered to a halt a split second after she had stopped walking. She looked all around, trying to see what might have caused the sound, but all she could see were shadows and leaves and the trunks of trees. She began walking again, and behind her, she heard a faint _crish-crish-crish_ of something walking through dead leaves. 

*_It's that thing again,_* she realized. *_The one that followed me yesterday. What does it want?_* 

"Hello?" she called uncertainly. 

There was a slight rustling. It sounded like something had just leaped into a hiding place. 

"I know you're there," said Sora a bit louder. "It's no good trying to hide from me. Why don't you just come out and show yourself? I promise, I'm not looking for trouble. We won't hurt you." 

The forest remained stubbornly silent. There wasn't even a rustle or a patter of feet. 

"Did it disappear?" asked Piyomon. 

"I don't know. It might have," said Sora doubtfully. 

She began to walk again, and behind her, she heard the crunching noised begin again. Oddly enough, it was reassuring. Whatever the thing was, it didn't seem to mean her any harm, and as strange as it was, it had at least become a familiar strangeness. She found she preferred her invisible follower to the idea of running into something completely unexpected. 

They continued to walk, the three of them - Sora picking her way along in front, Piyomon fluttering behind her, and the padding footsteps a few yards behind. At first, Sora kept her course angled slightly, so that she was tracing a broad arch around the house, always keeping its peaked roof within sighting distance. However, as she continued to walk, she found herself growing more accustomed to the forest, and less afraid of it. It was a beautiful place, in its way. The trees had a kind of monumental grandeur to them, and the smell of pine resins was like a heady perfume, sweet and invigorating. Engrossed as she was in exploring this fascinating new world, she had already half- forgotten why she had come here. Why worry about a Gray Man who might or might not exist when she had all this right here in front of her to admire? 

She was brought back to reality with a jolt when a strange sound rang through the air. She jumped, her heart suddenly pounding in her throat, and found herself staring at the sky. The noise came again, something between the howl of a wolf and the screech of a bird of prey... or, she thought uneasily, like the scream something would make just before something else tore it to shreds. 

"What was that?" Piyomon squeaked. 

"I don't know and I don't want to know," said Sora flatly. "Come on - let's get out of here!" 

She turned to run... and realized that she could no longer see the house behind her. Panic rose up. Which way was it? She didn't know, and going back wouldn't help her - she hadn't traveled in a straight line, and now she needed a direct path that she could follow as fast as possible. 

"Which way? Which way?" she asked herself futilely. 

The scream came again, closer this time, and Sora stopped debating and ran for her life. She didn't know which was the way back home and she didn't care. All she wanted was whatever path would take her away from whatever made that awful noise. However, before the echo of the first cry died out, she heard a second one come from a different direction, and then a third. Reality was slow in reaching her brain, and her feet continued to move even after she realized that it was no good running: she was boxed in. 

Suddenly, something in the underbrush rustled and burst into view. Sora screamed. If it wasn't the same monster she'd dreamed about, it was a perfect replica of it, right down to its razor-thin claws and drooling mouth. As it caught sight of her, it shrieked again, a victory cry. 

"No!" Sora shouted, and tried to backtrack. Two more monsters came bounding up to join the first, hemming her in on all sides. They began circling her, sizing her up, sniffing at the air and flicking out their tongues. Through her haze of panic, Sora got the impression that they were trying to figure out what she was, and whether or not she might be dangerous or edible or possibly both. She had to do something now, while they were still uncertain, or she would never get another chance. 

"Get _back_!" she shouted at them, and made a lunge forward as if to attack. 

One of the creatures, the one that had been closest to her at the time, was caught by surprise and backed off a few paces. With speed born of desperation, Sora snatched a broken limb that was lying on the ground and jabbed it as hard as she could at the monster's face. Luck was with her, and the jagged edge of the stick struck the monster in the eye. 

The creature let forth a truly horrible scream that made Sora's insides revolt and her face break out in sweat, but she didn't have time to worry about that now. While the monster thrashed in pain, whimpering and pawing at its face, she charged past it and began running as far as she could from the other monsters. The other two tried to leap after her, but Piyomon pivoted in midair and threw a spiral of green fire at them. It didn't seem to faze the demons particularly, but it lit a small fire in the underbrush that blocked their path, and they didn't seem keen on crossing it. 

"Way to go, Piyo!" Sora said. 

The monsters growled furiously, but they weren't following her again just yet. Sora had formed a vague notion that the things were mostly blind, and that they relied on their noses and tongues more than their eyes. The thick smoke being put out by the fire on the damp leaves seemed to be confusing their senses, and Sora thought a prayer to whatever friendly spirits might be out there that the monsters would lose her trail and give up. 

No sooner had this hope lodged in her mind, when she heard a screech behind her, and she knew it could only mean one thing: the lizard-monsters had found her trail again. She risked a glance back, and could distantly see two dark shapes bounding behind her. She put on an extra burst of speed, but it was clear that they were faster than she was, and there was no way she could outrun them... 

And then a perfectly friendly voice said, almost in her ear, "Did I hear someone call for help?" 

Sora looked, her heart leaping - but it was not the Gray Man that she found herself facing. Standing before her was what appeared to be a fox, except that it was standing on its hind legs, and it was within an inch of her own height... and it seemed to have four tails. 

"Don't look so surprised," he said - it was obviously a he; the fox-man wore no clothing save his fur, and Sora knew enough about animals to tell a dog-fox from a vixen. "You called on friendly spirits, and here I am! Don't worry, girl-pup. Leave the dusk-lizards to the _kitsune._

Before Sora could say another word, the fox leaped towards the dark monsters with a yip that sounded to her like laughter. The demons stopped short as they came face to face with this unexpected arrival. Sora just stood and stared, thinking, *_A _kitsune_! A real live _kitsune_! If only Dad could see this!_* 

There was no doubt in Sora's mind that her father would be delighted to meet a genuine _kitsune_ living practically in his backyard, as it were, but it was plain that the same could not be said for the monsters. They snarled at it, lowering themselves to the ground, ready to either spring at it or run away, should the need arise. The _kitsune_ barked at them in something that sounded like dog-noises made into words, though in no language Sora had ever heard. Whatever he said, it incensed the monsters - the dusk-lizards, as the fox had called them. They sprang at him, and he received them with teeth flashing, and the three of them went into the biggest dog fight that Sora had ever seen. Though there were two of the lizards and only one _kitsune_, he seemed to be doing nicely on his own. Though the monsters' teeth and claws were getting a lot of use, they never seemed to land more than a glancing blow on their opponent, but both of them were soon leaking greenish-yellow fluid from a number of wounds. 

"We ought to get out of here while the getting is good," said Sora. 

Piyomon shook her head stubbornly. "He saved us both. We can't just leave him. Besides, it's my job to protect you. Maybe I can help." 

Without waiting for an answer, Piyomon flew into the fray, cheeping her best imitation of a battle cry. A dusk-lizard looked up in surprise and got a blast of magical fire in its face. It coughed and snorted a moment, but seemed otherwise unharmed. The second dusk-lizard swiped at her, just barely missing one of her wings. She fluttered away with a cry of fright. 

"Get back!" the _kitsune_ shouted at her. "This is no place for a Digital Monster! Take your partner and go!" 

Piyomon hesitated, clearly unwilling to leave the fight to a stranger when her partner needed protecting. Her split second of indecision proved to be a moment too long. Razor-sharp claws slashed across her back, and she shrieked and fell from the sky. Instantly, the two dusk-lizards turned away from the _kitsune_ and turned their attention to this more helpless prey. 

The _kitsune_ did not forget them, however. He dove between the two of them, clubbing them aside with his fists and lashing them with his tails, until they cringed back enough to let him snatch Piyomon off of the ground. He picked her up and threw her, and Sora had a sudden and strange view of her partner sailing through the air like a perfectly thrown football before she thudded into Sora's chest, and she fumbled to catch her. Sora made a brief check; Piyomon still seemed more-or-less conscious, but she was bleeding bits of purple-pink data and her eyes were glazed with pain. 

"Get out of here, now!" the fox shouted. "The man of the forest will have my hide if anything happens to you!" 

"You mean the Gray Man? You know him?" asked Sora, startled. 

"Just _go!_" 

Sora went, running as fast as she could with the burden of Piyomon in her arms. The little bird was built by necessity to be fairly light, but it was still a cumbersome thing to have to run through a forest when one's arms were full, even of something so light as a bundle of feathers. Sora pushed through the tangles of thorns and shrubs and fallen branches as well as she could, trying not to jar her injured partner any more than necessary. 

Behind her, she could still hear the snarls and yips that came from the battle between the spirit fox and the dusk-lizards. A sudden cry made her spare a glance behind her; one of the lizards seemed to have realized that his original prey was escaping, and was loping after her. The _kitsune_ attempted to follow him, but was held up by the second lizard, who had managed to get a tight hold of his tail, and he was having difficulty freeing himself. Sora took one look at the monster that was pursuing her and redoubled her speed. 

For a while, it looked like she had a chance to get away. The dusk-lizard seemed to have been injured in his fight with the _kitsune_, and he was moving with a pronounced limp that prevented him from moving faster than a human might walk briskly. Sora, moving at a flat-out run, could have easily outstripped him if she hadn't been hampered by the double burden of the load she carried and the snagging twigs and roots. Even so, she was managing to keep a fairly good distance between herself and him, and the gap was slowly widening as he began to tire. Sora chanced a look over her shoulder to see if he was still there, and... 

...her foot caught on a root. She cried out in equal parts of pain and frustration as she hit the ground. Piyomon was flung from her arms and rolled a few feet away. She tried to move, then whimpered and lay still. Sora tried to pull herself to her feet, but her ankle seemed to be twisted, or broken; she could not rest her weight on it even enough to stand up. She looked around frantically, but the _kitsune_ was too far behind her to even be heard anymore. There was no one here to save her. 

*_This is it,_* she thought vaguely. *_It's all over... Dad will never even know what happened. Nobody will even be able to find my body out here..._* 

Panic overtook her. She screamed, willing someone, anyone to hear her and come save her. The only one who responded was the lizard, fixing its opaque eyes on her, slinking slowly forward. It was in no hurry, now; it knew it had her. She could hear its breath rasping in its throat as it panted in anticipation. As she scrambled to back away, it reached out one of its twiglike hands. The tips of its claws grazed her cheek - only that, but it was enough to draw four thin lines of blood across her face. 

"No," she pleaded. "Don't, please..." 

The thing ignored her. It drew back its claws and licked them with a slimy green tongue. It grinned and reached out again. 

"No!" she shouted. "Somebody help me! Help me!" 

"Sora!" A voice echoed in the distance. "Hang on, Sora, I'm coming!" 

The voice distracted the thing. It raised its head, wet nostrils twitching as it tried to figure out who the voice was coming from. Sora took the opportunity to drag herself a few more feet away from the monster, but inside, she was less than comforted. She had recognized that voice. It was her father. Her father was coming to try to save her... but what could a book-bound, scatterbrained professor do against a demon? What could he do, but delay the inevitable, and force her to have to watch him die trying to save her? Why was he even here, in the middle of nowhere? 

In the next instant, he came charging into view, his face a mask of fear and fury. He leveled a furious gaze at the monster. In a dim sort of way, Sora wondered why they didn't seem to be surprised to see each other. 

"Get back!" her father ordered the thing. "I'm warning you, you don't want to make me angry!" 

The demon thought it didn't believe him. It growled again, slinking experimentally closer to the professor in a manner that said it wondered how he might taste. After all, its other victim was in no shape to go anywhere. Professor Takenouchi stood his ground. 

"You are trying my patience," he told it. "I'll warn you again. Leave now. Now!" 

The demon let out a howl and leaped for him, jaws gaping as it reached for his throat. 

There was a brilliant flash, bright enough that Sora felt her eyes contract painfully at the sudden brightness. When she could look again, the scene had changed. The world was suffused in a silver-gray glow, all of it emanating from the place where her father had been standing a second ago. Now he was gone, and in his place was the Gray Man. In one hand he held his sword, and in the other, the cut tree branch. His eyes blazed a furious silver. 

The demon cringed away, clearly frightened by this unexpected manifestation. It tried a desperate lunge at him. The Gray Man made a flourish with his staff, and the demon rebounded off a shield of silver light. 

"Back!" the Gray Man ordered. His voice echoed in the still forest. "Get back to the shadows from which you came! I order you, begone!" 

The thing snarled, cringing as if each word were a blade that cut him, but it refused to yield. It slunk away from the Gray Man, drawing closer to where Sora sat staring, transfixed. If it was going to have to leave, it would take her with it. 

The Gray Man was having none of it. He raised his sword and pointed it at the beast. 

"You don't want me to use this," he said. "That girl is mine, and if you or your ilk so much as breathe on her, you will pay dearly! For the last time, back down!" 

The demon cringed. It seemed to sink into the ground, as if a huge weight pressed on its shoulders. It stared beseechingly at the Gray Man, but it was already too late for it. 

"I tire of your presence," he said in disgust. "You've had your chance. Now you'll pay. By the power that is given to me..." 

He said something else, something that howled like a high wind in Sora's ears, though not a leaf stirred around her. The monster let out a howl that brought sweat to her face. Then the sounds became quieter, until there was nothing but silence. The Gray Man dropped his weapons, head bowing and shoulders slumping, dwindling until he was only her father again. He sighed deeply, slumping against the side of a tree and apparently trying to catch his breath. Sora continued to stare. 

"Dad?" she said quietly. 

"Sora," he answered. "Are you all right?" 

She shook her head, brushing off the question. "You're him. You're the Gray Man." 

"I suppose I am," he answered, "though it beats me how you knew about him. Me. How _did_ you know?" 

"I've been dreaming about him," Sora replied, "every night since we got here. I thought he was just a dream, but..." 

"I would have preferred he went on being a dream," her father answered. "Sora, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen to you. I didn't mean for you to find out." 

"How did this happen?" she asked quietly. 

"Later. Not here, not now," he answered. "Can you walk?" 

"I don't think so... and Piyo's hurt, too." 

Without a word, her father walked over to where Piyomon lay and knelt beside her. With his back turned to Sora, she couldn't see what he was doing, but in seconds, Piyomon was sitting up and blinking. Then he came to kneel next to Sora. 

"Hold still a moment," he instructed. 

He pressed a hand to her forehead, and another over her heart. For a moment, she had the sensation of walking through a fog, as grayness covered her eyes and something cool and damp seemed to press against her skin. Then her vision cleared. She realized that her ankle no longer pained her. She put a hand to where the scratches had been and felt only drying blood. 

"Better now?" he asked softly. 

"Yes, I think so," she answered. "Just... a little stunned." 

"You're not the only one. Let's go home and get straightened up. I know it sounds blase to say banishing demons makes me thirsty, but..." 

"Let's go home," she agreed. 

They took the journey at a snail's pace. Even though Sora's injuries were gone, she _felt_ bone-tired, not to mention more than a little shaky on her feet. Piyomon seemed to feel the same way, and kept uncharacteristically silent. Normally seeing her partner in any kind of danger would have had her chattering frantically, trying to make sure she was all right, but she seemed to have no energy for anything but walking. The professor looked the worst; everything about his attitude suggested utter exhaustion. 

They were barely able to stagger into the kitchen when he collapsed into a chair and lay there with his head tilted back and the rest of him draped with no particular care. Sora found a glass and filled it with water, offering it to him. He drained it in thirsty gulps. 

"Thank you," he said fervently. "You have no idea how much I needed that." 

"Do you feel well enough to explain what just happened?" she asked, sitting down beside him. 

"I can try," he replied. He sighed. "Sora, please understand that I never meant for any of that to happen. I didn't mean for you to get into that kind of danger. I never meant for you to find about... what did you call him? The Gray Man?" 

"It seemed right," she said. "Do you have some other name, when you do that?" 

"I never dared to give myself a name," he said. "Too many cultures believe names can be used to give someone power over their owner. I didn't want to do anything that might affect... whatever happens... when that happens... I've confused myself." 

Sora managed a weak smile. _That_ sounded more like the father she knew. 

"I don't suppose calling him the Gray Man will hurt anything, though," he decided. "I mean, it isn't _exactly_ a name, is it? It's just what he is..." 

"You're off the subject," she said gently. 

He sighed. "All right. I guess I do owe you an explanation. Well, let's see if I can tell this story in a way that make sense. It all started years ago, not long after you were born..." 

"About the time your hair turned gray," Sora guessed. 

He smiled wryly. "Clever of you to notice. Anyway, at that time, I was traveling alone, in a place much like this one. I'd heard vague rumors of a place in the forest where strange things had been known to happen. Stories said there was a forest spirit, or spirits, who lived there, who had been known to speak to humans from time to time. Silly me - I was so sure I wanted to find them..." 

~*~

Professor Takenouchi shaded his eyes as he squinted up at the sun. It was occurring to him belatedly that he still wasn't the best woodsman alive - well, that was understandable; he had only been doing this kind of research for a few years. It was understandable that he wouldn't have completely mastered everything he would need for searching for sacred forest shrines, or whatever it was that was out here, on his own. He had thought he would be all right as long as he had a map and a compass and his pack of supplies. Now he was realizing that just because he knew which way was north did not necessarily mean he knew which way he ought to be going. 

He spun in a small circle, trying to get his bearings. It was evident that he was standing on the slope of a mountain, though there were too many trees in his way to see what might lay at the bottom of the slope. Higher up, the mountain broke away in a kind of cliff, leaving behind a wall of jagged-edged rock. At the very top of the cliff, he could see one larger stone, looking to him like an artifact on a pedestal. 

*_If I stand up there, I'll have a good view of what's down below me,_* he thought. *_If I'm anywhere near the town, I'll be able to see it from there. If I can't see it, I'll at least be able to see the river. That will at least give me something to follow._* 

It was a good plan, and he hurried to set it in motion. Going home without finding anything would be a disappointment, but it would be better than remaining lost in the wilderness. He scrambled up the slope without doing anything worse to himself than skinning his knees a few times. After a few minutes of careful climbing, hauling himself up by the stems of bushes, he was able to reach the top of the cliff. 

Up close, the rock he had noticed was more interesting than it had seemed from afar. Seen from below, it was only a squarish lump of stone. From here, he could see that it rested in an interesting location, almost exactly in the center of the cliff's rim. He could also see that it was not, in fact, just squarish, but almost perfectly square, and flat on top, like a table. 

*_Stones don't just put themselves in interesting places,_* he thought, feeling excitement rising, *_and they don't just carve themselves into squares - not this kind of stone, anyway. Someone put this rock here for a purpose._* 

Curious now, he approached the rock. Now that he knew what to look for, he thought he could see the markings made by the tools that had cut it into this shape. But why was it here? Did someone put it there recently, as a pleasant place to sit at a lookout point? Or did it have a ceremonial purpose? A stone table like this could be used for anything from sacrifices to astrological observations. Mind whirling with questions, he climbed on top of it, to have a look out over the scenery... 

The sun blinded him, and he cringed away from it. Squinting, he held a hand up to his face to try to block it. It made no difference. The light seemed to be simply everywhere. Slowly, he lowered his hand, realizing that somehow, his eyes weren't bothered by this strange light. It finally occurred to him that the light wasn't golden, as he'd expect from sunlight, but silvery... 

_What do you want here, mortal?_

He jumped. He hadn't _heard_ a voice, not with his ears, but all the same, he had the _feeling_ that something very forceful had just asked him a question. 

"I... I came looking..." he stammered. 

_Looking?_ He wasn't sure, but he thought that voice was different from the first one. That one had felt in his mind like stones shifting and grinding, like a far-off rockslide. This one was flowing and rushing, like the ocean tides. _Looking for what?_

_The same as all the others,_ answered the first voice scornfully. _Just what they always want. Power, prestige, treasure... these mortals are all the same._

"I didn't want any of that," Professor Takenouchi hastened to assure the voices. "I'm a researcher. I only came looking because..." Again, he ran out of words. He felt suddenly uncertain. What _had_ he been hoping to find? 

_He speaks truth,_ said a voice like blowing breezes. _There is no greed in this mortal's soul... not for material things, at least. His cravings lie elsewhere._

_I don't think he himself knows what he wants,_ said a crackling-flame voice. _But we know, oh yes. Look, look at him. I haven't seen a mortal like this in eons, have you?_

The speakers looked. The young professor felt an awful sensation of being _seen_, a terrible nakedness. It was a hundred times worse than a feeling of being unclothed; it was the feeling of having probing presences examining every thought he'd ever had. Then the feeling relented, leaving him feeling limp with shame and relief. 

_It is true,_ said the water voice. _We've found an intellectual, a spiritualist, a man of the mind..._

_More than that,_ said the earth voice. _Mortal, do you know what it is you are searching for?_

"I'm not sure," the professor answered haltingly. "I think... I think I'm looking for an assurance that... that there is more than just the physical world. I'm looking for - for magic, and legends..." 

_And you have found it,_ said the wind voice. 

There was a rustling, whispering sound, and the professor got the feeling there was a conference being held, something he was not part of. They were talking about him, weighing him, putting him on trial, and there was nothing he could say for himself because they already knew more about him than he could himself. At last, there was silence, and then came a unanimous verdict: 

_WE CAN USE YOU._

Something struck him. For a moment, he was drowning in silver light, something that flowed around him and through him, filling voids in his soul he'd never fully realized were there. He thought he screamed, though he couldn't hear himself - screamed not with pain, but from the sheer intensity of it all. It was over in seconds, leaving him shaken, but, against all his expectations, alive. 

_It is finished,_ said the earth voice. _Attend to us now. You have been given a power._

"I noticed," he said shakily. 

_Do not speak lightly of it,_ said the voice of earth, nearly blunting his senses with its force. _You craved magic and legends, and you shall have magic and legends. With that power comes responsibilities._

_You have been chosen as one of ours, a mortal vessel of the powers of nature,_ said the voice of wind. _A mortal who knows and understands the old ways, a man who will not use his power for selfish reasons, one who believes the legends not through ignorance, but because he needs in his heart of hearts for them to be true..._

_You will do our work,_ said the voice of fire. _You have the knowledge, the tools, the connections. You will find the forces of darkness, supernatural evils that would destroy the balance of nature. You will fight them for us._

"What if I don't want to?" he asked. 

There was amusement in the water-spirit's voice. _You do._

He sighed and said nothing. Deep down, he knew they were right. 

The spirits must have sensed his acquiescence, or perhaps they simply had no more time to waste on his irrational mortal worries, because at that moment, the silver light dissipated. Now he was simply standing on a stone, looking down the mountain slope at the rolling hills. In the distance, he could see the twinkle of a stream, and beyond that, the irregular blocky shapes that made up the town. He took it in dispassionately; all his emotion seemed to have been used up in that burst of gray fire. He felt more tired than he ever had before, an exhaustion that seemed to go deeper than just his muscles and bones... but below that, there were the first flickerings of comprehension. 

At the bottom of the slope, he paused by the side of the stream and looked down at his reflection. He looked just the way he always had, except... except that just for a moment, something seemed to flash and shimmer at the back of his eyes. He nodded his acceptance of the fact before turning walking thoughtfully away. 

~*~

Back in the warm safety of the kitchen, Professor Takenouchi wound up his narrative. He had tried to keep it as calm and factual as he could, and managed well enough, owing to the practice his profession had given him. Still, how well was anyone going to take a story like that, even someone who had already undergone so many unbelievable things? He searched his daughter's face for signs of disbelief, and found none. 

Sora herself was surprised at how easily she accepted the story. She had vaguely expected that, once the shock had worn off, she would be feeling all manner of emotions. She certainly did feel limp with something, but it wasn't the disbelief and amazement she had anticipated. It took her a moment to pin down what she was actually feeling: relief. Not just relief at being rescued from the demon, though there was certainly enough of that, but something that was much deeper and closer to her heart. Her father hadn't wanted to leave her! He hadn't left her alone because he didn't care about her or because his work meant more to him than she did. He'd left because he'd had to, because he'd had no more choice in leaving her than she'd had in becoming the Chosen Child of Love. 

"Is that all?" she heard herself saying. "You could have _told_ me." 

He did not look like a magical protector of anything when he was smiling sheepishly like that. "Not when it first happened - well, you weren't much more than a baby, then. As for your mother, well... she's a wonderful woman and I love her dearly, but she is at heart a pragmatist. Her world is bounded by running her shop and doing the housework and tending her family. There's nothing wrong with that - I need someone like that, to balance out my more mercurial aspects - but I don't know if she could have accepted it. Even if I gave her proof, she wouldn't believe it. She would have either me or herself committed to an institution before she'd believe her own husband is a - a wizard, or whatever I am." 

"She accepted Piyomon," Sora pointed out. 

"Because she had no choice," her father replied. "She had to accept Piyomon to save your life, and I believe that is one thing that will override any of her other inhibitions. She also had no preconceived notions about Piyomon, whereas I think she might have a few about me by now." 

"That could be true," Sora admitted. 

"So I didn't feel like I could say anything. It was easier just to pretend I was a scatterbrained professor who was more interested in chasing research trails than staying home with my family." The words were spoken bitterly; Sora could hear strain in his voice. She put one of her hands on his. 

"It's all right," she told him. "I think I understand. They didn't give you any choice, did they?" 

"No, they didn't. The gifts of the nature spirits are double-edged. There is a... a geas on me, I suppose you could say. I'm impelled to seek out evil and fight it. In return for getting what I wanted, I've had to leave behind the people I love most to hunt down things that would give an ordinary man a lifetime of nightmares... but I wouldn't give it up even if I could." He stared off into space, his eyes haunted. "The spirits were right... there's a part of me that needs this. If you believe in destiny, I guess this is it. It's just... not always much fun." 

He tried a weak smile on her, and she smiled back. 

"I'm glad I know now," she said. "Don't worry; I can keep it secret, if you want me to." 

"I know you can," he said. "Believe me, it hasn't been easy, keeping it from you. I fought it at first - I really did - once I knew what was going on. I really tried not to leave, but, well... they have ways of making sure I do what they want. It took years of experimenting just learning how it works, discovering what I was capable of..." 

His voice sounded vague, as if he were half-asleep. Sora eyed him critically, noting that he was not really sitting up, but still simply draped in his chair, and his face seemed gaunt. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in days. She frowned. 

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked him. "You look like you need to rest." 

He smiled weakly. "What I _need_ is a good strong cup of tea and something to eat, preferably something sweet. And maybe a nap. After that, I'll be good to go again." 

"Are you sure?" she asked suspiciously. "You'd better not just be telling me that so I won't worry." 

"Far be it from me to lie," he answered. "Trust me. I've been doing this for years. I know what makes me feel better by now." 

She accepted that argument and went to see what she could do to be helpful. She found the cake she had bought the other day and cut a generous wedge, and then began heating water for tea. While it was still warming, she set the confection in front of her father, who appeared to be dozing. He became more animated when he saw the cake, and immediately began attacking it, breaking off bits and devouring them without bothering with niceties like silverware. The reaction was oddly reassuring; he had, at least, been being honest about his needs. 

"If you get like this every time you fight something, I can't believe nobody's noticed yet," Sora commented, as she added tea to the hot water. 

"Don't worry," he answered. He sounded more awake already. "When anyone asks, I just tell them I've been up all night grading papers, and everyone believes me." He paused, either considering or chewing. "Actually, I think Shuu Kido might have an inkling I'm up to something, though I suspect he just thinks I'm a member of some strange but harmless cult." He smiled to let her know he was halfway joking. 

"Are you going to tell him someday?" she asked. 

"Maybe," answered her father thoughtfully. "If there is a way to... to pass all this on when I can't continue anymore, he would be my choice." 

"You should tell him," said Sora, setting the teacup in front of her father, "and you should tell Mom, too. The people closest to you deserve to know. We can help." 

"You could be right," he said, slowly. "I don't know, though. I'd have to think about it. I've been keeping the secret so long..." 

She set a hand on his shoulder. "You deserve better than to go through it all alone. Anyway, Piyomon and I know, now. That's a start." 

"True," he agreed. He took a long drink, emptying the cup in a few swallows. "I admit, it's nice to have someone to look after me instead of trying to do it all myself. There have been times I was so exhausted I had to skip school - had to stay in bed for days..." 

Sora gave him an appraising look. "Are you _sure_ you're all right?" 

"Fine. Just..." He yawned and tried to stifle it. "Just tired. It will pass..." 

"It will pass faster after you've slept, I think," Sora said. "Can you make it upstairs?" 

He surprised her by laughing. "I'm not _that_ badly off! Really. It was only a _small_ demon, after all..." He yawned again. "But you're right about my needing rest. Please excuse me..." 

He got up, moving carefully but steadily, and made his way slowly up the stairs and out of sight. Sora listened a moment, but there was only silence after that. She shrugged, and, more out of reflex than anything else, began to wash the dishes. 

"Are you okay?" asked Piyomon. It was the first thing she'd said since they'd gotten home. 

"I'm fine," said Sora. "Really. I don't exactly know why, but... I feel better than I have in a long time. It's just... there's a _reason_ for why he was gone, Piyo. He had a real reason for leaving me. A _good_ reason, one that makes sense." 

"Are you sure it makes sense?" 

Sora surprised herself by laughing. "Well, as much sense as anything Dad does. I have to admit, there are an awful lot of questions I'd like to ask him... It'll have to wait until he's awake, though. I could use a rest myself, couldn't you?" 

Piyomon nodded. "Even my _feathers_ are tired." 

"Well, why don't you dry these dishes as I wash them, and then we can both take a nap." 

The two of them finished the chore together, and then meandered into the living room to collapse on the sofa. Neither of them felt it was really worth the effort to expend the energy needed to climb upstairs just to lay down. Piyomon made herself a nest among some faded old throw pillows, while Sora stretched out full-length and draped an arm over her eyes, blocking out the sunlight that was stubbornly pressing through the curtains. Even so, she failed to sleep, but only dozed, her mind spinning with questions and conjectures. If she finally did drop off, she dreamed of nothing at all, not even the mysterious man in gray. 

To Be Continued...


	3. Luring the Worm

**

Luring the Worm

**

**

By: SilvorMoon

**

Professor Takenouchi did not appear again until evening. Sora had considered waking him up for dinner, but she decided that he would wake up on his own when he'd slept enough, and in the meantime, it behooved her to keep quiet and not disturb him until he was ready to awaken. She passed the time as best she could and tried not to fidget. Most of the day was spent fiddling with the portable video game Daisuke had lent her. She was not ordinarily a video game player, preferring actual reality to virtual reality, but she had actually gotten quite good at the game by the time her father finally shuffled downstairs. She'd gotten so caught up that she didn't realize the professor was there until he was standing right behind her. 

"Having fun?" he inquired. 

"Yow!" she said, and dropped the game. Her video game avatar quietly slid into a chasm and died, to the accompaniment of doom-filled music. 

"Sorry!" he said. "I didn't mean to throw you off." 

She smiled. "That's all right. I'm just happy to see you up and around again." 

"Don't worry about a thing," he said. "The... transformation, or whatever it is... it eats up a lot of energy, but it usually doesn't take long to recover. Not unless I do something really major, which I haven't. Not recently, anyway." 

"Do you feel well enough to answer some more questions?" she asked. "You've got to admit, this is really strange. I'd feel a lot better if I understood it a little more." 

"I don't blame you," he answered. "I wish someone had been around when all this first started to explain things to me. As it is, I'm still working by trial-and-error... but I'll explain as much as I can. Would you like to sit out on the porch?" 

"Why?" she asked. 

"Because," he answered, "I'd feel better for a breath of fresh air... and because I'd like to show you something." 

"Oh. All right. Coming, Piyomon?" 

The little bird nodded. The three of them trooped out onto the back porch and settled themselves on the steps. The sky was the cool blue of early evening, just after sunset, and the first stars were winking in the east. A soft breeze rustled the tops of the trees. It was the right time and place, Sora thought, for discussing magic. 

"I suppose," said the professor, "you remember telling me that you thought something had been following you yesterday? I didn't say anything about it, then, but I've known all along that you were being followed." 

"You did?" asked Sora. 

"Yes," he answered, "because I was the one who told him to do it - especially after I heard about your meeting with the old woman and her dogs. I asked him to keep an especially close eye on you after that. Here." 

He cupped his hands to his mouth and made a series of strange sounds, a mix of guttural growls and high-pitched yips. The call was answered by a rustle and a patter, and a large fox bounded out of the forest. He trotted familiarly into the yard and stretched out on the ground with his forelegs crossed primly in front of him and his tongue lolling in a vulpine grin. He was, of course, the _kitsune_ who had rescued Sora earlier. The professor spoke to him in that strange animal language, speaking carefully and stumbling on the difficult words, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. When he had finished, the fox nodded politely and said a few words back to him. Then he turned to Sora and nodded politely. 

"Hello again, girl-pup," he said. "I am glad to see you're still alive and whole. I did try to tell you, dusk-lizards are no prey for a girl alone, or even accompanied by such a fine bird. Leave them alone until you have more experience. _Yip!_" He made an abrupt, high-pitched bark that Sora guessed was his way of laughing. 

"I wouldn't have met them at all if I'd had a choice in it," she said. "Thank you very much for saving me." 

"You did have a choice," said the _kitsune_. "You should have stayed out of the forest. I would have thought your father would have warned you of the danger." 

"He did," said Sora quickly. "I just didn't listen." 

"I didn't tell you nearly enough," said the professor. "I should take some of the blame. I knew there were dusk-lizards, and other equally nasty things in there... but I didn't know how to tell you so you'd believe me." 

"Lucky for you, there are _kitsune_ in the forest as well," said the fox. "At least one, anyway, and one is all you need." 

"Yes, that is true," said the professor, smiling. "Sora, allow me to introduce you to my friend and research partner. This is..." He made a complicated sort of growling noise. 

"I don't think I can say all that," said Sora. 

"I'm not very good at it, myself," her father admitted. "I've been assured that my accent in _kitsune_ is atrocious. However, he has permitted me to give him a name in the human tongue. I call him Arthur. It seems to amuse him, and it's easy enough to say in either language." 

"He assures me it is a noble name," said the _kitsune_ called Arthur. "Fortunately I am fluent enough in human speech, otherwise I would have suspected him of naming me after a toaster- oven or something equally absurd." 

"You speak very well," said Sora. It was true. She might not have spoken _kitsune_ any more than she could jump to the moon, but she was sure her father had more of an accent in the language than Arthur had in Japanese. 

Arthur flicked his tails in dismissal of the compliment. "When you live as long as my kind do, you have to find some kind of hobby to keep you busy. I choose to meddle in the affairs of human beings. The rest of my tribe thinks I'm a bit crazy for taking such an interest in you magic-less creatures - saving the good professor's presence, of course - but it gives me something to do." 

"Arthur has been a useful associate of mine almost from the beginning," said Professor Takenouchi. "He keeps me plugged into the spiritual grapevine, and I provide him with scraps of information for his research. And we watch each other's backs in times of danger, of course." 

"Or the back of certain young progeny of his," Arthur chimed in. 

"Yes," the professor agreed. "As soon as I realized you might be in danger, I asked Arthur if he would trail you and keep an eye on you - secretly, of course." 

"But he wasn't secret," said Sora. "I heard him following me. So did Piyomon... well, today she did." 

"Yes," said her father again, and this time he looked faintly worried. "I suppose that was my fault. There was only so much I could do for you while you were awake, if I wanted to avoid awkward questions, so I had to constrain myself to putting protective wardings around you when you were asleep at night. I suspect that touch of magic gave you just enough connection to the spirit world to know when such creatures were nearby. Not enough to see them clearly or learn their nature, perhaps, but enough to know they were there." He frowned. "I have to wonder if that also attracted the local spirits to you, or if there was some other reason." 

"I could have told you that," said Arthur. "It's not your magic that's got the spirits riled up. They were stirring before you came here. But they're drawn to the magic that stems from the girl and the bird." 

"I don't have any magic!" Sora protested. 

"Don't you?" asked her father. "And here I thought you had enough to help save two worlds, if not more." 

"But that wasn't magic, that was-" said Sora, and stopped. 

"Magic," Arthur said. "Or if not, then something very like it. A different kind, maybe. Not the magic of nature. Technology-magic. Computer-magic, maybe, if some of the stories your father tells about you are true. It is strange and different, and the local beings are curious about it. Some are frightened by it. Some covet it. Either way, it is a dangerous magic to have, here in the wild." 

Sora shivered a little. She thought of her dream of the old hag that the Gray Man had fought. Hadn't he said something about the old woman wanting Sora's power for herself? 

"Dad," she said suddenly, "I've been having these dreams. Every night since I came here, I've dreamed about you - about the Gray Man. You were doing things... Were they real?" 

"That would depend on what kind of things you dreamed I was doing," he answered. 

"Well, the first night, I just saw you walking in the forest..." 

"That's reasonable enough. I've been doing plenty of that." 

"And then I dreamed that you fought the old woman with the dogs," Sora continued. "And after that, it was the monster that killed the boy from the village." 

Her father nodded slowly. "Yes, those sound like accurate reflections of my work to date." 

"So that old woman was really some kind of spirit?" asked Piyomon. "And those dogs, too? Is that why my attacks didn't work on them?" 

"Yes, yes, yes," he said. "The old woman... she is a kind of mountain spirit." 

"False Turning," Sora murmured. 

Her father gave her a curious look, but said, "That is one possible name for her, yes. Her delight is to lure travelers onto magical paths and lose them in the forest, either for her own entertainment or for her magic. If she thinks you are of no use, she feeds you to her spirit-dogs. If she does think you're useful..." He trailed off and shrugged. "You should feel very lucky that Piyomon stopped you from going into her hut. _If_ you had ever come out again, you wouldn't have been in any recognizable shape. Perhaps not even to me." 

Sora shuddered. "I am thankful. So you destroyed her for attacking me?" 

The professor sighed regretfully. "No, I simply banished her back to the heart of the mountain... as punishment for going out of bounds." 

"Out of bounds?" Sora repeated blankly. 

"If I could have, I gladly would have destroyed her. I have no liking for creatures like that who live only to cause suffering. However, she is part of nature, and is what her own nature dictates. Her function is to lure travelers on to false turnings. That is what she does - all she ever can do. She can't help doing it any more than a snake can help killing baby ducks when it's hungry. I can't punish her for doing what she was created to do. However, spirits must abide by rules, and she is only permitted to take travelers in certain ways, from certain places. She should not have bothered you as long as you were on one of the town's main roads. The road through the village, like the road to this house, is an old way, and protected. She had no authority to take anyone who walked it, but she was apparently so tempted by your presence that she tempted you directly off the main road. That was why I was sent to punish her." 

"That doesn't seem fair," said Sora. 

"The ways of Nature are not always fair," her father answered. "Not even usually. It is one of my chief regrets." 

"Be comforted," said Arthur. "The old hag has been sent to the heart of the mountain, miles under the earth. She will be years worming her way out of that again, and years more recovering her foul hounds. She will not have power again in your lifetime. Even then, she will probably be much more careful who she snatches in the future." 

"Oh," said Sora. She was not particularly pleased by this answer, but she decided to let it drop. "What about the other thing - the dusk-lizard, I think you called it. What happened to it? You banished it, too, didn't you?" 

"Yes," he said, "and I was merciful to that one. I would have been within my rights to destroy it. I _did_ destroy the one that attacked you, and Arthur killed the other two himself." 

"The young lady got the first one a nice poke in the eye," said Arthur approvingly. "It might have died anyway without my help." 

"The dusk-lizards are not true spirits," said the Professor. "Not like the False Turning, or even like Arthur here. A true spirit-being can live on pure energy, is immune to natural sickness and many forms of physical injury and infirmity, and will live practically forever unless something very powerful kills them. The dusk-lizards are monsters only. They have some innate magic, but they are only marginally intelligent, need food to survive, and can be killed by normal, physical means. An ordinary man with a small hatchet and a measure of courage could kill one without much more effort than would take to finish off, say, a large dog. It's dangerous, messy business, but it can be done without aid of magic. That just speeds the process a lot." 

"So why didn't you kill it, then?" Sora asked. 

"Because it provided me with information," he answered, "and that was what I desperately needed. Dreadful as the thing was, it was the first being I'd encountered who could give me any clue as to what was going on... as to why I'm really here." 

"What do you mean?" 

His mouth quirked in a wry smile. "I think it can be taken as said that I seldom if ever know exactly what I'm doing. When I am sent on a mission, it is usually no more than a point in the right direction. I have to do a lot of detective work. I have to talk to people and listen to the rumors. I have to win the trust of local spirits and persuade them to part with some of their knowledge. I have to spend a lot of time just scouring the countryside looking for clues. Sometimes I get lucky and someone tells me right off what I'm after. Other times I find myself trapped in a proverbial fog. This has been one of those times. I know something bad is lurking near this town somewhere, but I don't know its nature or its purpose, much less where exactly it is now. That is the puzzle I've been trying to solve, and last night I got my first real hint." 

Sora blinked, puzzled. "But I thought it was the dusk-lizards who were doing the killing." 

"Yes," said Arthur, "and that was a puzzle in itself. Dusk-lizards may not be as intelligent as humans, much less _kitsune_ but they are smart enough to know that there are big, strong farmers in that town down there who can club them over the head and kill them if they came too close. For the most part, they are cowards who never attack anything more dangerous than perhaps a lone wolf. For one to kill a human, even a small one, near the borders of a populated area... it is a thing quite strange. So, you believe you have an answer, _sensei_?" 

"A hint," the professor said. "When I spoke to the dusk-lizard who killed the boy, he told me that been ordered to kill a human and bring it back with him, but that he'd fled when he heard the sound of another human approaching. When I pressed it, it told me a remarkable thing. It said it had received its orders from a _tree_. Now, what do you make of that?" 

"Are there talking trees around here?" asked Piyomon. "I knew there are lots of them in the Digital World, but I haven't seen many in this world." 

"Oh, there are a few around," said Arthur. "They're a dying breed, sad to say. Not many people pay attention to them anymore. Stubborn things, most of them - mired in the past. There are one or two around here, that I know of, but I thought they were on good terms with the local humans." 

"There are things that live inside trees, though," said the professor grimly. 

Arthur's ears flicked forwards and backwards, as if something surprising had just occurred to him. "You don't think... a chiworm?" 

"It's a possibility," said the professor. 

"Stars, I hope not," Arthur answered with a shudder. "I never want to see one of _those_ again. Once was enough. It took all nine of the local clan leaders to finish the thing off. Forgive me for saying so, but a chiworm might be a bit out of your league, friend." 

"Nevertheless," said the professor, squaring his shoulders, "I've been sent to deal with it, and I must try." 

"Well, then, I hope it's not a chiworm, after all," said Arthur. "Still, can't be too careful. I'll start checking for rumors of talking trees, if you like." 

"Please." 

"I'll let you know if I find anything, then," the fox replied. "Best of luck to you, old friend. I'd hate to lose one of the few humans I know who still speak _kitsune_. And goodbye, young lady. It was pleasant to meet you face to face. Farewell, noble bird. Choose your battles more carefully next time!" 

With that, the fox gave a flick of his tails, and seemed to vanish into the shadows. Sora stared. 

"That's not quite how I imagined a _kitsune_ would be," she said. 

"Well, he is quite young, as far as his people go," her father replied. "He's only... three-hundred and seventy-eight, I think. Not quite four hundred, anyway. He won't be full grown until he has the full set of nine tails, and that probably won't be until long after you and I are gone." 

"I hope I get to meet him again," said Sora. "That's the kind of spirit I like." 

Her father smiled. "Yes, I'm grateful that not everything I run into has to be monstrous. When I've dealt with the matter at hand, I'll have to show you some other things... It will be good to finally have someone to share them with." 

"I'll look forward to it," said Sora. 

There was a moment of silence. The two of them stared up at the sky, watching the stars come into view. There was very little moon that night, and the constellations stood out clearly against the absolute black of the sky. After a while, Sora found herself asking a question she was not sure she wanted the answer to. 

"Dad," she said, "what's a chiworm?" 

"Um," he said. "Well, it's... a kind of parasite. They lay their eggs inside the trunks of trees, and the eggs grow there quietly for years - centuries, sometimes, as long as the tree lives. However, when the host tree finally dies and the sap dries away, the creature inside begins to hunger. They've been known to compel weaker magical creatures, such as the dusk-lizards to bring them food. At first, they're satisfied with the blood of small creatures - frogs and lizards and things. Then squirrels. Rabbits. Foxes. The longer they're fed with the blood of living things, the stronger the larva becomes and the more it takes to satisfy them. At the last, they burst forth and eat every living thing in their path. Have you ever seen a swarm of caterpillars attack a tree? Imagine a caterpillar that can eat whole forests and towns - trees, cattle, people, everything. That's what a chiworm is." 

"How do you stop something like that?" asked Sora, eyes wide. 

"_I_ don't. I never have before, at least. Chiworms are thankfully rare, and they only appear once every few hundred years. From what I've gathered, they do eventually get their fill and undergo some kind of metamorphosis, just like a caterpillar does. It's just that until that happens, it is very, very dangerous to be standing too close to it. The best way to deal with a chiworm is to find it before it hatches and destroy it then, before it has a chance to do any real damage and while it's still vulnerable." He frowned. "If the chiworm is already up to the point where it's demanding human blood, it is probably already close to hatching. I'll have to move fast if I want to catch it..." 

He trailed off, and turned to look at his daughter. 

"It is going to be dangerous," he said. "If things go wrong, this whole village could vanish off the face of the earth, and you with it. We've already learned from hard experience that the local spirits are drawn to you. How much more do you think you'll draw a creature whose essence is greed?" He paused a moment, and Sora, unsure if he expected an answer, said nothing. He sighed. "I can still send you home, you know. It wouldn't be difficult. I could send you back to Tokyo in the blink of an eye, if that's what you wanted. I don't want you to feel you need to be here, and Arthur and I can't always be here to protect you." 

Sora shook her head. "I wouldn't leave when I thought you were in danger, and I'm not leaving now that I _know_ you're in danger. Dad," she said, looking into his eyes, "I would go through anything to be with you, because you're my father, and I love you. No matter how bad things get, I'd still rather be here with you." 

He stood in silence for a moment. He slipped his fingers beneath his glasses to rub his eyes, and she thought she saw a hint of dampness there, though it was hard to tell in the dim light. 

"Sora," he said, "I know... I must have been a disappointment as a father sometimes. I truly wish I could have been there for you more often. But it comforts me, at times like these, to see that you've grown up into such a fine young woman... even if I can't take any of the credit. Right, then." He straightened up, squaring his shoulders and beating a fist into his palm. "I _will_ take care of that chiworm. I'll tie him up and deliver him to you gift-wrapped, if that's what it takes!" 

Sora beamed. "That's right, Dad. Show him who's boss." 

"If I'm going to do that, I'm going to have to get going," he said. He sighed. "I'm glad I took a nap today; I'm not likely to get any sleep tonight. _You_ ought to get some sleep, though. You've had a hard day." 

"I took a nap when you did," said Sora. "I'm wide awake now - really! I want to sit up a while longer." 

"All right, then," said her father. "Just don't try to wait up for me. I probably won't be back until dawn, if then." 

"Don't work yourself to exhaustion," said Sora. "What happens if your worm wakes up while you're sleeping? Then we'll all be in trouble." 

To her surprise, he laughed. 

"Sometimes you sound just like your mother," he said. "Goodnight, Sora. You too, Piyomon. I'll see you in the morning." 

With that, he loped off into the night. Just before he vanished completely into the trees, Sora thought she saw a silvery shimmer, and she knew the Gray Man was on the job again, and she smiled. She trusted her father. She was sure he could handle anything, even something that sounded as horrible as the chiworm. Thinking these reassuring thoughts, she stared up at the sky, picking out constellations. High above her head, she could see the winding trail of stars that made up Draco, the starry dragon. She watched it idly, and in her mind, it slowly took on the semblance of a real dragon, which became a creeping worm, which ate up all the other stars in the sky until she was dreaming of only darkness. 

~*~

Early the next morning, Sora awoke feeling somewhat stiff, and wondering why she was so cold and damp. It took her a moment to realize that she'd fallen asleep on the back porch, and the early morning dew had settled on her, finally waking her. She got up, shuffled sleepily to her room, crawled out of her wet clothes and into her nightgown, and fell back to sleep for a few more hours. The last conscious thought to wander across her mind was a vague notion that there was something she was forgetting, and a more stubborn feeling that whatever it was, it could wait until she had slept properly. 

At approximately eight o'clock, she woke again with a start, and immediately felt guilty. How could she be sleeping at a time like this, when her father was out putting himself in mortal peril? She immediately got up and, without bothering to dress, tiptoed into her father's room to see if he was back yet. The room was empty, and the bed showed no signs of being slept in. 

Resigning herself to a wait, and telling herself that her father had promised to be back sometime early that morning, she forced herself to go through her morning routine. She woke Piyomon, dressed and groomed herself, and made breakfast. She washed the dishes slowly and swept the kitchen floor - not because it was dirty, but because it was something to do. Always she kept an ear turned toward the door, listening intently for any signs that her father was returning. However, he did not arrive, and her spate of activity wound down to jittery boredom. 

Nine o'clock passed without any sign of the professor's return. Ten slid by the same way. Sora found herself walking to the window every few minutes, peering intently into the forest, watching for any sign of him. When eleven rolled around, she was nearly in a panic, and sincerely wondering if she ought to be going into the woods to look for him. She was just about to resign herself to that unpleasant possibility, when she finally heard the sound of heavy footsteps falling on the porch out back. She ran to open the door, and her father stumbled in. 

"Are you all right?" she asked. 

"Fine, fine," he said tiredly. "As well as can be expected, anyway..." 

Sora eyed him critically and decided he was right. He looked tired, but no more tired than anyone would be after being out all night. He certainly didn't look as bad as he had after he'd fought the dusk-lizard, and that struck her as being wrong. 

"You didn't find it, did you," she said flatly. 

The professor made a face of disgust. "Not a sign of it. No, that's not right - I heard hints, rumors, guesses, just nothing I can put my finger on. There are millions of trees on these mountains. The thing could be in any one of them." He sighed deeply. "Even with help, the odds against us finding the worm before it hatches are astronomical." 

"You'll find it, Dad," said Sora bracingly. 

"I know I will," he said, grimacing. "Once a chiworm hatches, it will be rather hard to miss. The trick will be finding it before that happens, and it will be a very difficult trick to pull off. Don't think me more than I am, Sora. I may be gifted with abilities other men don't have, but at bottom, I'm still just an ordinary man." He shook his head. "Still, ordinary men have been known to do great things. I'll have a rest and a bath and maybe some lunch, and start searching again. If Arthur comes around, call me." 

"What if you're still in your bath?" she asked, with a ghost of a smile. 

"If he has news of importance, send him up anyway," said the professor. "His kind tend to think clothing is a ridiculous notion to begin with. One of the reasons they find humans so amusing. Then again, they seem to think taking baths is a bit silly as well. Have you ever seen a fox taking a bubble bath?" 

Sora managed a small laugh. She knew he was just trying to cheer her up by being silly, and she didn't want to add to his troubles by letting on how worried she was. 

"I'll make lunch," she said. "For Arthur, too, if he wants it." 

"That would be lovely," her father replied. "I'll see you in a bit." 

He climbed slowly up the stairs and vanished from sight. Sora watched him until he had disappeared, and then headed toward the kitchen to make good her promise. 

"You're worried," said Piyomon. 

"Yes," Sora replied. "And frustrated. I guess I'm not used to being stuck on the sidelines when something big is going on. It's kind of stupid to be jealous that my dad is going out into danger when I can't... but I guess I'm not exactly _jealous_. I just wish I could do something besides hang around the house waiting for it all to be over with." 

"We could go with them," Piyomon suggested. "Ask if we can help." 

"We can't," said Sora bitterly. "You've seen what happens. Every time we go out into the forest, we get in trouble, and we can't defend ourselves." 

"I tried," said Piyomon unhappily. "I wish I could help more..." 

Sora declined to comment. She knew how her partner felt. It was a difficult transition to go from being a savior of two worlds to knowing all she could do to aid this little town was to fix lunch for the people with _real_ power. 

*_I wish I could go along,_* she thought as she chopped vegetables. *_Even if I can't fight, I wish I could just be there..._* 

At least the food looked good. She had used up the last of the fresh vegetables she'd bought in town and concocted an array of rice cakes and similar delicacies, arranged neatly on platters. When her father finally reappeared, dressed in fresh clothing and still toweling his damp hair, he stared at it in surprise. 

"Gracious. I wasn't expecting something quite this elaborate," he said. "When you said you'd make lunch, I was expecting sandwiches or something." 

"You need your vegetables. They're good for you," she told him facetiously. "I can make rice cakes in my sleep, anyway. Besides, it's the least I can do," she added with a grimace. 

"Now, don't be like that," said her father. "You are making a difference, Sora. Just the fact that I finally have someone to talk to is a huge relief. You make this so much easier for me just by being here." 

She smiled a little. "I know. I mean, my mind knows it, but... I'd still like it better if I could do something a little more... constructive." 

"Perhaps something will come up," said her father. "We'll think about it more later - after lunch." 

They settled down to eating quietly, and Sora decided not to bother her father with any more talk. He looked somewhat refreshed after a bath, but he still looked tired, and she was sure he was also frustrated and worried, and certainly not in the mood to hear her complain about being left at home. 

However, the quiet was broken in mid-meal by the sound of someone shouting at the back door - or, perhaps more accurately, howling at the back door. 

"Hellooooo! Is anyone in there?" 

"Arthur, don't be so loud," said the professor. "People will hear you." 

"There's no one out here to hear me," said Arthur, "and even if they could, that's the least of our worries. Can I come in?" 

"Yes, yes, come in. It's easier than shouting at you." 

Arthur came striding in. This was interesting mainly because Sora heard no sound of the back door being opened. The fox glided into the kitchen and glanced at the gathering around the table. Sora noted that he was carrying a lump of something dark and irregularly shaped in one paw, though she could not make out precisely what it was. 

"Hello again," said Arthur, nodding politely to her and Piyomon. "What's this? Food? I could use some... though I can't see what you human types see in vegetables." He picked up a rice cake and bit it. "Hm, not bad. Not the best thing I've ever had, but still palatable." 

"Please, Arthur, we don't have time for small talk," Professor Takenouchi said. "What brings you here? I suppose it would be too much to hope for good news." 

"You're right," said Arthur. "See what I've found." 

He carefully placed the object he'd been carrying on the table, and Sora leaned closer for a better look. She realized now that it was a lump of wood, but not of any type she had ever seen before. Wood that was gold, or brown, or reddish, or gray - that she was used to. She was not used to it being black, not in its natural state. She also doubted that anyone would want to paint or stain a piece of wood this color. It was an ugly reddish-black, like dried blood... 

The professor was gazing very intently at the piece of wood. 

"Where did you find this, and how long ago did you find it?" he asked. 

"About fifteen miles from here, as the crow flies, traveling east by northeast. It was only a few minutes ago that I found it, but by the time I'd gotten there, the worm was long gone. I'm not familiar with the creature's scent, but I guess it's been moving freely for at least two hours, if not more." 

"And you didn't try to follow it?" 

"What point in it? I'm only a young _kitsune_, after all. I don't have the power to take on even a newly-hatched chiworm. As soon as I realized what I'd found, I came straight to you." 

"Very well, you did the best you could," said the professor tiredly. "We have our work cut out for us now, though.... How well do you think you could track the worm's scent?" 

Arthur gave a barking laugh. "You won't need me to track him. The things leave their own trail. I'll lead you as far as the tree I found... and perhaps a bit further, out of friendship to you. I don't have it in me to fight worms, but perhaps I can be of use to you in other ways." 

"Thank you." The professor rose to his feet. "I'm sorry, Sora, but duty calls. Maybe if I'm lucky, we can get to the thing before it gets near the village..." 

"I want to come," said Sora. 

Her father sighed. "You knew my answer to that without the bother of saying it." 

"I have to come," Sora told him. "You'll need me." 

"Sora, I appreciate the sentiment, but--" 

"Listen, Dad," she said. "I've been thinking. You said yourself, the spirits around here seem to be drawn to me. Maybe if it senses me nearby, it will go after me instead of the town. Maybe I can distract it so you can fight it." 

Her father stared at her. 

"I ought to forbid you from ever having children," he murmured. "There is obviously a germ of insanity in my blood somewhere. I'd hate to see it go on any further. Listen, Sora. This is dangerous. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I find this creature, and here you are, asking me to bring you along, to remove the protections I've placed on you so you can use yourself as _bait_..." 

"I will carry her," said Arthur abruptly. "She is light enough. She will not be a burden." 

It was his turn to receive an astonished glare from the professor. 

"Who asked you?" he said. 

"No one," said Arthur. "I think it is a good idea. I may not know much about chiworms, but what little lore survives from those who have triumphed them says that they are not to be fought alone, even by the greatest of warriors. I have heard my grandsire say, once or twice, that it is safer to fight a chiworm in the company of the weakest newborn pup than to go trusting solely in one's own strength. And your daughter is hardly a newborn pup." 

Professor Takenouchi frowned, obviously deep in thought. At last he sighed, his shoulders slumping. 

"It is foolish to doubt the wisdom of the _kitsune_, even when it sounds ridiculous on the surface. Still, I don't like putting my child in danger. Sora, are you sure about this? ... No, don't bother saying it, I know you are. Very well. But if things go wrong and anything happens to you, I'll hunt down Arthur _and_ his grandfather and turn them into fox-skin coats!" 

"You would have a difficult time doing that, I think," said Arthur. "My grandfather died before you were born." 

"Your humor is not appreciated," said the professor. "If that is all, I suppose we had best get going. Sora, go with Arthur. Don't worry about me; I have my own ways of traveling. I'll catch up to you." 

Sora nodded. She beckoned to Piyomon, who followed obediently after her, and the two of them allowed Arthur to escort them outside. When they reached the back yard, Arthur dropped down to all fours and crouched on the ground. 

"You will ride," he said. "Be thankful. I know of none alive today who can say they have been carried by a _kitsune_. You will want to hold on to your friend the bird. She will not be able to fly quickly enough to keep up. I think it will be most comfortable for both of us if you ride sidesaddle. My back was not meant to carry humans." 

Sora did what she could to settle herself on his shoulders. She wondered how he was going to manage, for he was a lean and slender creature, and she was fairly sure she was his equal as far as bulk and weight were concerned, but once she'd settled herself more-or-less comfortably, he didn't seem to be inconvenienced by her. 

"Lean forward a bit, and hold tightly to my fur," he said. "You may not be comfortable, but I won't let you fall." 

Sora did as she was told. As soon as she had established a firm grip, the fox took off suddenly into a lightning-fast dash. She was shocked by the sudden movement, but once he found his stride, he moved as smoothly as water through its bed of polished stones, and she felt that she was hardly moving at all. She found the confidence to loosen her grip just a tiny bit, and sit up to admire the scenery. 

"Do you think Dad is going to be all right?" she asked. 

"Your father is a remarkable human," said Arthur. "Not just for his magic, though that is a rare thing in these waning days. Much of the old wisdom is in him, the wisdom of tree and stone, wind and sky, and of many living things. And he loves you. That is no small thing, when you are fighting the spawn of shadows. A man may have magic and courage and strength, but if he loves nothing, he is no better than they are, and they will engulf him sooner or later. Thus I advised your father to take you with him. You will be good for him, I think." 

"I hope so," she said. 

"I think he's right," said Piyomon. "You always helped me, when it was my turn to fight." 

Sora felt a measure of comfort creep over her. "I guess you're right. Maybe I'll be able to help, somehow." 

The fox's magical speed brought them to the ravaged tree in a matter of minutes, and he skidded to a halt in a clearing so small that it hardly merited the name. It would, perhaps, have held a pool table or two, but no more. Still, it was a place where the sun managed to peer through the treetops and nourish a few patches of moss and wispy clumps of grass. Sora slid off of Arthur's back, and walked tentatively over to the place where the tree had been. There was hardly anything left of it now, only the jagged edge of a stump that broke off at about hip-height. The rest of it was strewn around in the form of variously sized chunks of wood and broken branches, all of them of the same ugly red- black color of the one Arthur had brought. Strewn around the base of the tree was a pile of bones mixed with scraps of fur and feathers. Sora did not look to see if any of them were human. She turned away. 

There was fog on the ground, a strange thing for midday. She looked up and saw her father - or, more precisely, the Gray Man. 

"Hello again," he said, with the ghost of a smile. "I told you I'd catch up." 

Arthur was sniffing around the base of the tree, sneezing from time to time. 

"This entire thing smells ghastly," he said fastidiously, wiping his nose with a paw. "The whole place stinks of dusk-lizards and rotting carrion." 

"Can you tell which way the worm went?" asked the Gray Man. 

"Offhand, I'd say this way." 

He pointed at the ground. Sora stared as hard as she could, but saw nothing. Her father, however, walked over to the place indicated and knelt on the ground, looking intently. He seemed to pick up a trail and followed it, and Sora, not knowing what else to do, followed after him. A few feet away, they encountered a tree. 

"Ah," said her father softly. "Yes. Look here, Sora." 

He pointed. At the base of the tree, there was a hole, just barely big enough that she could have fit her hand inside it. If she had not had it pointed out to her, she would have missed it entirely, or assumed it was just a hollow, perhaps the den of some small animal. Now she looked more closely, and saw that its sides were almost perfectly smooth, save for tiny ridges that ran down its sides, like the marks left by small, sharp teeth. 

"Here is our path," he said. "Now we follow." 

He set off at a brisk walk, and Sora trotted along after him, with Piyomon fluttering above her head and Arthur gliding along in their wake, almost fading into the fog. 

The further they walked, the more Sora felt a growing sense of nervousness. The fog that followed them made her feel she was back in one of her dreams, and she got the sense that she had left everything that was real and safe behind her. It was also disconcerting to see the path of the chiworm growing. She could track its progress easily. At first, the holes it left were no wider than her fist. Then they grew large enough for a cat to wiggle through, and then a small dog. Then she came to places where the trees had been sheared down entirely and chewed to sawdust, until only a few twigs and leaves remained. The path never turned or wavered, and she had an uneasy feeling she knew which direction it was going. 

"Are we going to catch it?" she panted, as she tried to keep pace with the Gray Man. He had been walking along tirelessly, but she was starting to get slightly out of breath. 

"We will," he said. "These worms are strong, but not fast... and I have a feeling he may be changing course very soon. I have reversed the enchantments I laid on you when I got here. Instead of hiding your presence, they are advertising it to everything who has the senses to detect it. Of course, I doubt anything in this forest would tangle with a chiworm, but _it_ will know you're here." 

She shivered. Suddenly the idea of meeting up with a bloodsucking worm in this dark, misty forest was almost more than she could bear. 

"Why is it always so foggy?" she asked. 

Her father looked surprised at the change of subject, but he seemed to understand that she needed it, and he said, "I really don't know for sure. It seems to follow wherever I go. My hypothesis is that it is a kind of symbol, or a result of the joining of the four elements that empower me. It is the water suspended in the air, and air touching the earth, and the fire of the sun shining through them... ah, here we go." 

They had come to a break in the forest, a rocky slope where the trees could not manage to grow. As they stepped out of the woods, the sun beamed down on their shroud of fog and filled it with a mysterious light. For a moment, its beauty drove all thoughts of what was to come out of Sora's mind. 

"Look," said her father, pointing. "Angels." 

Sora looked in the direction he was indicating. To her amazement, she could see two glowing beings standing somewhere in the distance, their forms shining in the fog. For a moment, she was ready to believe they were real angels. Then she realized that one of them was slightly taller than the other, and that the smaller one seemed to have a winged creature fluttering over its head. When Arthur slipped out of the forest to join them, a fourth figure joined the other three. 

"Pretty, aren't they?" said her father. "It is a peculiar kind of optical illusion. The sun projects our images onto the fog. They happen sometimes in the mountains - not just when there's magic about. I always like seeing them." 

Sora nodded in silent agreement, and her "angel" seemed to nod back to her. The presence of the glowing forms was a friendly one, and made her feel a little less alone, less frightened. She took one last look at the bright figures on the hillside before following her father back into the forest. 

After that brief instance of sunlight and fresh air, the forest felt more forbidding than ever. Sora pressed close to her father as she walked, and Piyomon abandoned flying altogether to trot at Sora's side. Even Arthur seemed edgy, and kept sniffing at the air and flicking his ears. Her father had his sword sheathed at his side, but he kept fingering its pommel as if expecting to need to draw it at any second. He carried his staff in his other hand, and his grip on it was taut. 

"I think we should stop," said Arthur at last. 

"Is it coming?" the Gray Man asked. 

"The scent is growing much stronger. The wind is blowing towards us, what little there is of it. All of it smells of worm. The ground is trembling. Something large is moving nearby, and it is coming towards us." 

Sora saw her father's expression tighten. "Then we will meet it here. If we go back, we'll be out in open land where we might be seen. The further we go in this direction, the closer to the town we'll be. I don't think we'll have to worry about trees getting in our way, here," he added wryly. Their quarry had already cleared a path wide enough for a four-lane highway to pass through. 

They waited. Arthur stretched out on the ground in the pose of a library lion, his ears and nose fixed on the direction the chiworm had gone. The Gray Man paced, mist swirling around him. Sora hardly knew what to do with herself, but she sat on the ground next to one of the remaining trees, cuddling Piyomon to her for comfort. 

*_I don't know what I'm doing here. What am I going to do when it comes? I should have stayed at home in Tokyo and been bored._* 

Gradually, she began to feel a subtle change in the air around her. It was an uneasy feeling, as if all the oxygen in the area was being slowly used up. She smelled something oily and faintly unpleasant. Arthur got to his feet. 

"It's coming," he said. 

The Gray Man nodded and slipped his sword from its sheath with the sound of a drawn breath. "Let it come." 

Sora heard something and turned to look towards it. It was a rushing sound, reminding her of waves pounding on the beach, or perhaps the roar of an approaching subway train. It grew louder until she could feel it rumbling in the earth, and she stood up, trying vainly to distance herself from what was coming. 

"I think this is the time when I leave," said Arthur. Fear glinted in his brown eyes. "Best of luck, wizard. I will wait for your return!" 

He turned and fled into the foggy forest. The rest of the group watched him with varying expressions. 

"Why is he leaving?" asked Piyomon. 

"This is not his fight," said the Gray Man. "And he is still very young, and he is frightened. It took courage for him to come this far and stay with us this long." 

"I still wish he had stayed," Sora replied. She couldn't blame him for leaving - she would have, too, if it had been an option - but still... 

Something crashed, and she jumped. At the same time, a force slammed into her - not painfully, but with enough power to lift her off her feet and throw her a few yards away. She hit the ground with a bump, but thankfully she'd landed on dry leaves instead of being beaten against a tree. She sat up and saw her father standing with his staff outstretched, and with a large fallen tree between them. The fact that she had nearly been crushed by hundreds of pounds of falling wood, however, was not nearly as horrifying as seeing what had propelled them at her. 

Even after seeing the destruction wrought by the chiworm, she had not been able to properly wrap her mind around what it would be like. When she had imagined a monstrous worm, she had thought of something like an earthworm the size of a boa constrictor. She had not been prepared for this. The worm wasn't just large, it was gigantic, large enough to swallow a school bus without difficulty. It came crawling at them with its mouth wide open, a great gaping black hole full with row after row of hairlike teeth that twitched and scrabbled of their own accord, like so many crawling insect legs, as if desperate to sink into anything that came near. Its body was made of undulating segments, each slightly smaller than the last, tapering off to a whiplike tail. How long was it? Fifty feet? More? It was moving so much, it was hard to tell. Its whole body was a dark red color, glistening slightly, reminding Sora unpleasantly of raw meat. The thing paused for a moment as it drew nearer to them, swinging its eyeless head from side to side, searching. 

"Stand very still," said Sora's father in a voiceless whisper. "Don't move a muscle..." 

Sora froze, trying not to breathe. On the periphery of her vision, she could sense more than see that Piyomon was sitting as if she'd turned to stone. 

There was a silvery flash, and Sora was just barely able to stop herself from turning her head to watch. It wouldn't have done her any good at any rate, because by the time she could have looked, her father was already gone... and just now, he didn't look much like her father anymore. He was a silver blaze, streaking toward the worm with sword raised. The worm whipped its head around, tracking his movements. The Gray Man raised his sword and lunged... 

There was a dull thud as the blade struck the worm's hide, and bounced off with enough force to carry the Gray Man backwards with it. He landed on his feet, skidding slightly on the loose topsoil and trying desperately to recover his balance. He succeeded only marginally, falling into a soft juniper tree that cushioned him somewhat and propped him up. It might have saved his life, because its support was the only thing that kept him on his feet, so that when the chiworm lunged at him again, he was able to leap aside. The worm continued to trail him, following the sound of his movements. 

Sora wanted to shout, to ask if her father was all right, but she didn't dare make a sound that would advertise her presence. Instead, she watched as he ducked behind a tree and seemed to vanish from sight. The chiworm drove itself at the tree trunk, chewing through it in a flurry of sawdust, only to have the Gray Man drop out of its branches and land squarely on its back. Shouting words in some unintelligible tongue, he drove the sword downwards towards into the place where the worm's head could have been, if worms had such things. There was a flare of light that flickered silver and green and red, and a snap like an electrical arc. Then the worm gave a jerk, and the Gray Man was thrown from his perch to land on the ground a few feet away from Sora, rolling over and over in the heap of dead leaves and getting tangled in his cloak. 

"This is going to be harder than I thought," he said indistinctly. 

The worm shook itself, seeming no more than dazed. It lurched around drunkenly for a few minutes, but there was no sign that the blade had even pierced its skin. It seemed to regain its sense of place long enough to finish eating the tree, and then turned its attention back to the Gray Man. Sora's father scrambled to right himself and lurched away from her, shouting to draw its attention towards him, away from his daughter. 

"I'm the one you want!" he called. "Follow _me_!" 

The chiworm turned its eyeless head towards him, and the tempo of its wiggling teeth picked up. It lurched towards him a few feet - and then made an astonishingly fast dive. There was no time for the Gray Man to move away, but he made a movement with his tree branch that caused a flare of silver light, and the worm turned a few feet to one side, demolishing a large shrub instead. It twisted itself around with surprising agility, forcing the Gray Man to parry it again. Sora watched, concerned. Before, when he'd battled the dead-end dogs, he'd barely put any force into his swings, and yet his blows had killer force. Now he was putting all his strength into each movement, and the monster was barely deterred. Despite all his efforts, the Gray Man was being herded slowly backwards - towards Sora. 

"It's no good!" he shouted. "It's too strong for me! Sora, you're going to have to make a run for it!" 

"No!" 

At the sound of Sora's voice, the worm raised its head a few feet, its whole slimy body seeming to tense. It made a wild dive for her, and her father made an equally desperate strike at it, sending it flying at a ninety-degree angle from where it had actually wanted to go. The Gray Man, drained at the effort the blow had taken, dropped to one knee, panting. His pale gray clothing was dark with sweat. 

"Go!" he shouted again. "Don't argue with me! I'll hold it off!" 

Sora hesitated a moment, torn. The chiworm swayed before her, like a gargantuan snake before its charmer. Even without eyes, it was sensing her somehow, feeling her breathing, hearing her heartbeat. It wanted her. It wanted her with a hunger that was impossible for a human being to fully comprehend, and if she let it get anywhere near her, nothing, not even the Gray Man, would stop it. It slunk slowly towards her, and was once again fended off by a wall of silver light - but weakly; it was clear her father was running out of strength. He could not defend her much longer... 

She broke into a run, sprinting away as fast as her legs could carry her. Piyomon gave a startled squeak and tried to flap after her, wings pounding as she struggled to make herself airborne. The worm reacted to the movement at once, surging towards her. The Gray Man flourished his staff again, calling up a wall of gray fog... and the worm smashed through it and continued its dive. 

But something else moved faster. One moment, Sora was staring, petrified, as the dark void of the worm's gaping mouth, and in the next instant, something coppery-colored had flashed down from nowhere, snatched her up in its arms, and she was rising up into the sky. While she was still absorbing what had happened, Arthur the _kitsune_ was setting her carefully in the branches of a nearby tree. 

"Where did you come from?" she asked. 

"Oh, well," he said, shrugging and turning his head. "I was just hanging around, to make sure everything came out all right. I did say I wouldn't fight the chiworm, but I might do something else." 

"Could you help Dad?" asked Sora. From her perch in the tree, she could still see where her father was dueling with the worm. It seemed to be a little confused by having Sora vanish so suddenly, but it seemed to be taking out its annoyance on the Gray Man, and Sora wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out. 

"I could try..." said Arthur slowly. "I don't know what I could do, though... He is the greater magician, between the two of us. If he can't stand up the worm, I certainly can't." 

"You said it was better for two to fight it together," Sora pointed out. 

"So I did," Arthur answered, chagrined. "Well then... I'll try. I can't promise much, but I'll do what I can. Maybe I can buy some time... Stars, I should have realized everyone was right when they said I was crazy. Be careful, girl-pup!" 

There was another coppery flash, and Arthur vanished. Sora began climbing higher up the tree, trying to get a better view of the battlefield. A few moments later, Piyomon came fluttering up to her. 

"Sora, how'd you get up here?" she asked. 

"Arthur," said Sora succinctly. She was concentrating on climbing the tree, which did not offer as many hand and foot holds as she would have liked. She tried not to think too hard about how far down it was; it was one thing to be carried safely by her partner, and another to be trusting her life to an ancient tree. She didn't trust too many of the natural spirits around here. 

When at last she deemed herself to be high enough, she managed to twist around and look back towards the fight. True to his word, Arthur had joined the fray. He stood between the chiworm and the Gray Man with fur bristling, tails spread, and fangs bared. The chiworm slithered back and forth in front of him, apparently trying to figure out his nature. Experimentally, it made a dive, and Arthur fired off what appeared to be a cluster of red and blue fireballs that burst in its mouth, making it back away with a squeal. Behind him, the Gray Man leaned heavily on his staff, and even from a distance, Sora could tell he was gasping for air. 

Then the worm made its move. Faster than Sora would have imagined possible, it whipped its slender tail around to crack full-length across Arthur's side, sending him flying. He tumbled over and over in midair before slamming hard against the ground. He made feeble swimming motions before slumping over, dead or unconscious. The Gray Man made a move, either to strike back at the worm or perhaps to try to heal Arthur, but it was too late. The snakelike tail whipped back again, wrapping around his legs and torso, holding him like a deer caught by a snake. He stared, petrified, as the worm raised its head high above him, hovered there for a moment, and then began driving downwards... 

"_STOP!_" 

All was suddenly silence, save for the echo of that single word ringing faintly on the air. The worm stopped moving. Slowly it turned its ponderous head around, facing in the direction of a nearby tall tree. There was a bird in it - a large bird. There was also a single human being. 

"Leave him alone," said Sora. "It's me you want. Leave him alone and come get me!" 

"Sora, no!" her father gasped. He struggled weakly at his bonds, but it was useless. He had no more strength to fight. 

Sora stood her ground. She didn't know what she could do to a chiworm, but she was not going to let her father die without a fight, nor would she let her new friend Arthur's sacrifice be for nothing. 

Very, very slowly, the worm began to move. It slithered in her direction as if expecting to have some trap sprung on it at any second. Its tail gradually unwound until the Gray Man, limp an exhausted, was free from its coils, and he dropped to his knees. He leaned heavily on his staff, trying to regain his feet, but it was no good, and the worm crawled inexorably closer to Sora. Its head swayed slowly back and forth as it crawled, and she found herself staring at its open mouth, strangely fascinated by that gaping black voice as it swung back and forth, back and forth... 

The chiworm struck. It surged upward like a geyser, and Sora had time for one last impression of a round circle of mouth and teeth before she was swallowed up. 

She was instantly surrounded by darkness - darkness that crawled. A thousand teeth were scrabbling against her skin, making her feel as if innumerable insects were creeping over her skin. For a moment, she was too shocked to do anything. Dimly, she had expected that as soon as the worm had eaten her, she would be dead. Instead, she was trapped in a dark, damp, smelly place, but she was still very much alive. She tried to kick, to struggle, to do _something_ that might save her, but the crawling teeth continued to draw her down, down, down... 

Then something strange happened. Instead of being chewed up, she found that the teeth were gradually easing off, until they finally vanished altogether. Now she was floating in some dark, undefined space, a chilly void with no beginning or end. She stretched out her arms, trying to find a boundary of some sort, but she met only damp chilliness, like clouds. It made her fingers ache just to touch it, and she curled into a ball, trying to stay warm somehow. The darkness was insidious. It brushed over her skin and ruffled her hair, trying to creep under her eyelids and crawl under her fingernails. She was breathing it, feeling it running down her throat to clog her lungs. No matter how she tried, she couldn't keep it out... 

*_Is this how I'm going to die? Bad enough being eaten by a worm... I thought it would be over quickly... I'm just going to sit here until I freeze, or drown, or whatever it is I'm doing..._* 

Emotion stirred vaguely in her; it might have been anger, or just frustration. She had known for years now, that there was no guarantee that she'd die in bed at a ripe old age, but she'd always vaguely thought that if she _did_ die fighting, it would be beside her friends. Now she was going to die, and she was going to do it all alone... 

The knowledge hit her like a crushing blow. She was never going to see any of her friends again. She was never going to hear Taichi laughing again as he got up to some new escapade. She'd never hear Yamato singing again. Never again would she see the look of wonder and joy in Mimi's eyes that seemed to become more common with every passing month. Mimi always seemed convinced that some new good thing was just around the corner - how would she take it when she found out her best friend was gone? And what about the rest of the Chosen? Some of the youngest, she had barely gotten a chance to know. She had been looking forward to seeing how Takeru and Hikari were going to grow up, and what would become of Ken now that he'd found real friends again. She had been looking forward to being there for her new protege, Miyako, as she navigated the rough waters of adulthood. No chance of that now. And she'd never see her mother again. Or her father. Or Piyomon. Or anyone. 

Something flared inside of her. It wasn't anger or defiance - there was no room in her mind for anything like that. At that moment, all she had left was a desperate desire not to be separated from the people she loved. The light glowed softly in her mind, strong enough that in this dark place, it seemed like a _real_ light, not just a metaphorical hope, but something she could hold close to keep her warm. There were moments in her life when she was reminded that she'd never really lost her Crest. It was right where it had been all along, hidden safely inside her, just waiting for the right moment to shine... 

There was light. Sora opened her eyes. The world around her had caught on fire, and she was no longer surrounded by shadows, but by flames, flames unlike anything she had ever seen before. They burned in every color of the rainbow, not just orange and red, but pink and green and purple and blue and every shade in between. They brushed against her skin, softly as feathers, warm as the breath of a living thing. She discovered she could move again. She had no idea what was going on, but certainty came to her that if she was going to escape, now was the time to do it, so she put all her energy into trying to move forward. Her eyes were blinded by the flames and her hands were stretched blindly before her, but her feet found purchase somewhere and she was able to move forward. The flames in front of her seemed to warp crazily for a second, as if she was looking at them through a bubble-eye lense. Then she felt her hands come in contact with something that stretched like rubber. She pushed and clawed at it, digging in with her fingernails until she felt it tear, and, with a final rip and a great rush of fresh air... 

...she staggered out into the fresh air and fell in a heap on the leaf-strewn ground. She lay there, panting, eyes half-closed, unable to do anything more than lie there staring vacantly at the earth in front of her. She could hear a great rushing noise behind her, but she lacked the strength to get up and see what was going on. It wasn't until she heard someone calling her name that she was able to raise her head groggily and see what was going on. 

"Sora! Sora!" The Gray Man was running unsteadily over the uneven ground, occasionally tripping over roots but always moving forward. Piyomon hovered above his head, and behind them, Arthur was limping along on three paws, with one hind foot raised. The three of them gathered around Sora and eyed her warily, as if afraid to find out if she was dead or not. Sora tried to say something reassuring and started coughing instead. 

"She must be all right," said Arthur. "She's breathing, kind of." 

"I'm... okay," Sora managed as she got her breathing under control again. "Just... what _happened_?" 

Her father looked up and stepped back a few surprised paces as he caught sight of the burning remains of the worm. Sora almost smiled - trust her father to overlook something like that! 

"What in blazes?" he muttered. 

"An apt question," said Arthur. 

"Is that it?" asked Piyomon warily. "Is it dead now?" 

"I should hope," the Gray Man said. "I don't see how anything could survive... What on earth happened?" 

"I don't know," Sora admitted. "One minute I thought I was a goner, and the next, _that_ happened." 

"I guess it finally ran its course," said her father. "Talk about timing!" 

"Somehow, I doubt it was coincidence," said Arthur, slicking his ears back in a vulpine frown. Then they flicked up again. "Wait one minute. I don't think it's over yet..." 

All eyes turned back to the flames. They were moving slightly, bending and warping into a multicolored globe of light. It trembled a moment, looking for all the world like a giant flaming egg just on the verge of hatching... 

Then, of course, it hatched. There was an eye-searing burst of light, and a _whoosh_ as of a thousand candles being blown out, and then a swirl of smoke that brought to mind exotic incense from some faraway land. From out of the flames rose a glowing beast with a long slender neck, a dainty reptilian head, six slim legs, and a long tail like the train of wedding gown. It fanned a pair of glowing wings, broad bands of feathers that flickered and flashed as if the rainbow fires still burned somewhere inside them. The whole creature seemed to be made of some kind of prismatic crystal, at once pure white and every color of the rainbow. The group stared in awe as it gave forth an echoing cry and leaped into the air. It flew three slow circles over their heads, caroling its flutelike song, before finally flapping away and disappearing over the tops of the trees. There was a long moment of silence. 

"What ... was that?" asked Sora at last. 

Arthur muttered something in his own language. When that drew blank looks, he said, "It was a... a rainbow-dragon, maybe you'd call it. Though it's not a dragon, exactly... I'm a bit bemused myself. I'd never seen one before now. They are among the rarest creatures on earth... I had no idea they were related to the chiworms." 

"I admit when I'd heard they metamorphosed, I had no idea it was into something so dramatic," said Sora's father faintly. "I suppose it must have finally reached its transformation stage..." 

"Maybe," said Arthur dubiously. He was looking very hard at Sora, with a speculative light in his eyes. "And maybe it is only that it finally found that which would satisfy it." 

The professor glanced at his friend. "And what would that be?" 

"The only thing that can." 

He said nothing more, but the professor seemed to understand. Sora remembered briefly her last thoughts before the dramatic transformation, and thought maybe she understood, too. 

"Can we go home, Dad?" she asked. "I'm a little tired." 

He laughed. Suddenly all the fright and worry seemed to melt away, and the worm seemed like little more than a bad dream. 

"Yes, Sora," he said, "I think now we all had better go home. Can you walk?" 

Sora tried to get to her feet, while Piyomon hovered anxiously over her, ready to catch her should she fall. She did not. She staggered a little, her knees feeling weak and shaky, but she could stand on her own two feet. 

"I can get up," she said. "I don't know if I can walk." 

"I can help a bit with that, then," he said. "I think I have just enough magic left for this..." 

He knelt briefly next to Arthur, and the gray fog briefly surrounded his wounded paw. A moment later, Arthur set it down and walked a few experimental paces, his tails wagging happily. Then the Gray Man turned to his daughter and rested a cool hand on her forehead. She felt something cool and shivery run through her, and she thought briefly of rain clouds and spring showers, of flowers opening in the rain... Suddenly she found that her energy was back. The same, however, could not be said for her father. He dropped to his knees, and silvery light obscured him briefly, until he was just Professor Takenouchi kneeling on the leaf-strewn earth, his hair and clothes in disarray. 

"I'm okay! I'm okay," he said hoarsely. "Just... I don't think I can get up again, that's all." 

"We'll help," said Sora. 

With the combined help of Sora, Piyomon, and Arthur, the professor was able to stand again, enough to prop himself against a tree, breathing hard. 

"Don't worry, friend," said Arthur. "You've worked hard today. I'll get you the rest of the way home." 

"You'll have to," he answered. "I've left my glasses at home. I can't see a thing." 

Sora giggled. "You never change, Dad. Not even as the Gray Man!" 

"That's as it should be," said Arthur. "Come along, humans. This mighty _kitsune_ warrior will get you home safely." 

Leaning on each other and laughing quietly, the four mighty warriors limped home. High above their heads, a wind whispered by, carrying on it the distant sound of flutelike music... 

~*~

A night breeze made the wind chime on the back porch chime softly, before moving onward to make the tops of the trees sway. Those were the only things moving. Sora, her father, and Piyomon were still and silent, sitting on the back steps, while Arthur stretched full-length in the garden. A few empty plates were scattered around, bearing the crumbs that were all that were left of the cake, and a few empty glasses were sticky with the residue of sweet tea. Now that they had eaten and drunk, all anyone really wanted to do was sit still and watch the stars come out one by one. 

"I hope this is as exciting as the summer gets," Sora murmured. 

"I hope so," said her father. His eyes were half-closed; he looked nearly asleep. "It was almost a little too much excitement for me." 

"Same here," said Sora. "You're still going to be looking for - for creatures and things, though, right?" 

"Yes," he said softly. "Always. This summer, and in the fall, and all through the winter..." 

Sora sighed. "I thought so. Well, I'm glad I get to spend _this_ summer with you, monsters and all." 

"And what am I?" asked Arthur, twitching his tails. "Not a monster, I hope. Perhaps I come under your listing of _creatures and things_?" 

Piyomon giggled, and Sora said, "Not hardly. You're one of a kind. Arthur." 

"Well, perhaps," he said, looking molified. "Still, you should reserve judgement on me until you've met more _kitsune_." 

"I've met more _kitsune_," said the professor, "and I agree with her assessment." To his daughter, he said, "You make it sound as if we'll never see each other again. There will be other summers, and other vacations. Though perhaps none so action-packed as this one." 

Sora yawned. "Thank goodness for that." 

"You're as exhausted as the rest of us," said her father. "I think it's time you went to sleep." 

"No. I want to stay up a bit longer," said Sora, and yawned again. 

"_I'm_ sleepy," Piyomon said. 

"As are we all," said Arthur. "I advise you put your kit to bed, and then send yourself off to sleep. That is what I'm off to do, at any rate. Good night, friends. Good hunting to you." 

With one last flick of his tails, he bounded off into the night, vanishing into the shadows beneath the trees. 

"Our furry friend is right," said Professor Takenouchi. "It's time for all three of us to get some well-deserved sleep. I'll tell you what - I'll help you upstairs if you'll help _me_ upstairs." 

Sora giggled a little. "Good deal." 

The three of them made their way carefully through the lower floor and up the stairs, their tired and sore muscles protesting every step of the way. Sora's father helped her into her room, and she flopped down onto her bed without so much as bothering with turning down the covers. Piyomon fluttered to her place next to her and closed her eyes. 

"This is as far as I'm going," said Sora. "Good night, Dad. ... I love you." 

"I love you too, Sora," he answered, stroking her hair. "Remember, even when I can't be nearby... part of me will always be with you." 

Sora nodded slightly. She was so tired, the words seemed to be just part of a dream. Her father stood over her a moment, watching her sleep. He smiled slightly. One of his hands moved in a complicated gesture, and something like a silvery spiderweb drifted towards her bed to settle over her face. With a satisfied nod, he slipped out of her room. 

Unaware of this, Sora slept, and as she slept, she dreamed. She thought she was walking in a forest where the trees loomed motionlessly over her and pale gray fog roiled on the ground. She walked aimlessly, hearing nothing but her own breathing, seeing nothing but the empty forest. Then, somewhere far ahead, she thought she saw a shimmering silver light. Smiling slightly, she picked up her pace and hurried toward it. As she drew closer, it took on an ever-more-familiar shape. 

"Dad, what are you doing out?" she asked him. "I thought you were going to go to sleep." 

He smiled, a bit sheepishly. "I couldn't resist. Besides, I wanted to make sure this would work." 

She blinked. "What would?" 

"This," he said, waving a hand around. "The dreams, I mean. Causing them on purpose instead of accidentally. It is working, isn't it? I've never done this before..." 

"Of course it's working. I'm here, right?" she asked, laughing. 

"I suppose so," he said. "Well. That's nice to know." 

"So, what are we going to do now?" she asked. 

"Well, I was wanting another look at that rainbow-dragon from earlier... I thought maybe we might have a look for it." 

"Sounds great," said Sora. "Which way?" 

The Gray Man held up a finger, as if testing the wind. He turned and pointed. "That way, I believe." 

"Well, let's go!" 

"Right you are!" 

He set off at a jog, glancing back to make sure his daughter was following. She caught up with him and took his hand, following him into the fog and getting caught up in her dream. **

THE END

**


End file.
